
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
: 

Chap,. Copyright No. 

sheif__ JA_r 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE LORD'S TABLE 



-P U & ' d 



THE LORD'S TABLE 



A HELP TO THE RIGHT OBSERVANCE 
OF THE HOLY SUPPER 



lEVf 



ANDREW MURRAY 
u 

AUTHOR OP 

"ABIDE IN CHRIST," "WAITING ON GOD," "HUMILITY,' 

"WHY DO YOU NOT BELIEVE?" ETC. 



'This do in remembrance of Me" 




New York Chicago Toronto 

Fleming H. Re veil Company 

Publishers of Evang 







Va \%0^r 



The Library 



Of 






Copyright, 1897, by 
Fleming H. Revell Company 



9273 



PREFACE 

On the use of this little volume I would 
fain say two things which lie upon my 
heart. 

The first is this : that the Christian who 
desires to make use of it must not be con- 
tent merely to read and to understand the 
portion for the day, but must take time to 
meditate upon it and to appropriate it. I 
am convinced that one chief cause why 
some do not grow more in grace is that 
they do not take time to hold converse 
with the Lord in secret. Spiritual, divine 
truth does not thus become our possession 
at once. Although I understand what I 
read, although I consent heartily to it, al- 
though I receive it, it may speedily fade 
away and be forgotten, unless by private 
meditation I give it time to become fixed 
and rooted in me, to become united and 
identified with me. Christians, give your- 
selves, give your Lord time to transfer His 
7 



Preface 

heavenly thoughts to your inner, spiritual 
life. When you have read a portion, set 
yourselves in silence before God. Take 
time to remain before Him until He has 
made His word living and powerful in your 
souls. Then does it become the life and 
the power of your life. 

And this brings me to the second re- 
mark which I desire to make. It is this : 
that the Christian must take special care 
that he do not suffer himself to be led 
away from the Word of God by the many 
manuals which in our days are seeing the 
light. These books will have this result, 
— whenever a man seeks his instruction 
only in what the writer has to say, he then 
becomes accustomed to take everything at 
second hand. These books can become a 
blessing to the reader only when they 
bring him always to that portion of God's 
Word which is treated of in order that he 
may meditate further upon it himself and 
receive it for himself as from the mouth 
of God. Christians, there is in the Word 
of God an incredible power. The blessing 
which lies hid in it is inconceivable. See 
to it that when you have read a portion 
8 



Preface 

you always return to that passage of the 
Scriptures of which an explanation is 
given. Receive that not as the word of 
man, but, as it is in truth, the Word of 
God, which works mightily in those that 
believe. Hold fellowship with God through 
the Word. Take time to speak with Him 
about it, to give an answer to Him con- 
cerning it. Then shall you understand 
what the Lord Jesus says : " The words 
which I speak unto you, they are spirit 
and life." Then shall Word and sacrament 
gloriously work together, to make you in- 
crease in prayer and in the life of God. 

That the Eternal God may bless this 
little volume also, to make His children 
learn His own Word, is the prayer of the 
author for all his readers. A. M. 



CONTENTS 



PAET I 
Gbe Week before tbe Supper 

NO. PAGE 

I. Sabbath — The Divine Invitation . 15 

II. Monday — The Preparation ... 21 

III. Tuesday— The Host 26 

IV. Wednesday— Self-Examination . 32 
V. Thuesday t — Confession of Sin . . 40 

VI. Friday — Faith 46 

VII. Saturday — Self-Surrender ... 52 

PAET II 
XTbe Communion Sabbatb 

SABBATH MORNING— AN EXERCISE 
OF FAITH 

I. Take, Eat 70 

II. In Remembrance of Me 74 

III. My Blood 78 

11 



Contents 



NO. PAGE 

IV. The New Covenant 81 

V. Unto Eemission of Sins .... 85 

VI. For Many 89 

VII. For You 93 

VIII. One Body . . 96 

IX. The Cup of Blessing 100 

X. Till He Come 104 

SABBATH EVENING— THANKSGIVING 

PAET III 

XLbc IKHeeft after tbe Supper 

I. Monday — The Power of the Food . 113 
II. Tuesday — Sanctification . . . . 117 

III. Wednesday — Obedience .... 122 

IV. Thursday — Work 127 

V. Friday — Fellowship with Jesus . 132 

VI. Saturday— The End 137 



12 



PART I 

Gbe Week before tbe Supper 



13 



My God, and is Thy table spread ? 

And does Thy cup with love o'erflow ? 
Thither be all Thy children led, 

Aud let them all its sweetness know. 

Hail, sacred feast, which Jesus makes! 

Rich banquet of His flesh and blood ! 
Thrice happy he who here partakes 

That sacred stream, that heavenly food ! 

O let Thy table honored be, 

And furnished well with joyful guests; 
And may each soul salvation see 

That here its sacred pledges tastes. 

Let crowds approach with hearts prepared, 
With hearts inflamed let all attend ; 

Nor, when we leave our Father's board, 
The pleasure or the profit end. 

Revive Thy drooping Churches, Lord ! 

And bid our drooping graces live ; 
And more, that energy afford, 

A Saviour's love alone can give. 

Philip Doddridge. 



14 



THE LORD'S TABLE 



SABBATH MORNING 
Zbc Divine 1Tw>itation 

" Behold, I have made ready my dinner. All 
things are ready. Come to the marriage." — 
Matt. xxii. 4. 

Let the King of Heaven and Earth say 
this to you. In honor of His Son He has 
prepared a great supper. There the Son 
bears His human nature. There are all 
the children of men, dear and precious to 
the Father, and He has caused them to be 
invited to the great festival of the Divine 
love. He is prepared to receive and honor 
them there as guests and friends. He will 
feed them with His heavenly food. He 
will bestow upon them the gifts and ener- 
gies of everlasting life. 
15 



The Lord's Table 

my soul, thou also hast received this 
heavenly invitation. To be asked to eat 
with the King of Glory : how it behoves 
thee to embrace and be occupied with this 
honor. How desirous must you be to pre- 
pare yourself for this feast. How you 
must long that you should be in dress and 
demeanor, and language and disposition, 
all that may be rightly expected of one 
who is invited to the court of the King of 
kings. 

Glorious invitation ! I think of the ban- 
quet itself and what it has cost the great 
God to prepare it. To find food for angels : 
for this only one word was necessary. But 
to prepare for man upon this accursed 
earth a banquet of heavenly food — that 
cost Him much. Nothing less than the 
life and blood of His Son, to take away the 
curse and to open up to them the right 
and the access to heavenly blessings. 
Nothing less than the body and the blood 
of the Son of God could give life to lost 
men. my soul, ponder the wonders of 
this royal banquet. 

1 think of the invitation. It is as free, 
as wide as it could be, " without money 

16 



The Week before the Supper 

and without price." The poorest and the 
most unworthy are called to it. And so 
urgent and cordial is it. Not less cordial 
is the love which invites to it, the love 
which longs after sinners and takes delight 
in entertaining and blessing them. 

I think of the blessing of the banquet. 
The dying are fed with the power of a 
heavenly life, the lost are restored to their 
places in the Father's house, those that 
thirst after God are satisfied with God 
Himself and with His love. 

Glorious invitation! With adoration I 
receive it, and prepare myself to make use 
of it. I have read of those who hold 
themselves excused because they are hin- 
dered, — one by his merchandise, another 
by his work, and a third by his domestic 
happiness. I have heard the voice which 
has said, " I say unto you, that none of 
these men which were bidden shall taste of 
My supper." Under the conviction that 
He who so cordially invites me is the Holy 
One, who will not suffer Himself to be 
mocked, I will prepare myself to lay aside 
all thoughtlessness, to withdraw mj T self 
from the seductions of the world ; and with 
17 



The Lord's Table 

all earnestness to yield obedience to the 
voice of the heavenly love. I will remain 
in quiet meditation and in fellowship with 
the children of God, to keep myself free 
from all needless anxiety about the world, 
and as an invited guest, to meet my God 
with real hunger and quiet joy. He Him- 
self will not withhold from me His help in 
this work. 

PRAYER. 

Eternal God, I have received the good 
tidings that there is room also for me at 
the table of Thy Son. With grateful 
thanks I receive thy invitation, God of all 
grace. I hunger for Thj^ bread, Lord. 
My soul thirsts for God. For the living 
God my flesh and my heart cry out. When 
shall I enter and appear before the face of 
God? 

Lord, graciously bestow upon me this 
week a real blessing in the way of prepa- 
ration. Let the sight of my sinfulness 
humble me deeply and take away from me 
all hope in myself. Let the sight of Thy 
grace again encourage me and fill me with 
confidence and gladness. Do Thou Thyself 
18 



The Week before the Supper 

stir up within me a mighty desire for the 
Bridegroom, for the precious Jesus, with- 
out whom there could be no feast. And 
may it be manifest in me this week that I 
am full of the thought that I have an in- 
vitation to eat bread in the house of my 
God with his only-begotten and well-be- 
loved Son. Lord, grant this for Jesus' 
sake. 

Lord Jesus, thou hast taught me : " God 
is a spirit, and they that worship Him 
must worship Him in spirit and in truth." 
Lord, spiritual worship we cannot bring : 
but Thou wilt bestow upon us Thy Spirit. 
I entreat thee, Lord, to grant the w r orking 
of the Spirit. The blessing of the Supper 
is a high spiritual blessing. The invisible 
God will there come very near to us and 
will very mightily impart the gift of 
eternal life to those who have the spiritual 
capacity for it. Only the spiritual mind 
can enjoy the spiritual blessing. Thou 
knowest how deeply I fail in this receptive- 
ness for a full blessing. But grant, I pray 
thee, that the Holy Spirit may this week 
dwell and work in me with special power. 
I will surrender myself for this end to Him 
19 



The Lord's Table 

and to His guidance, in order that He may 
overcome in me the spirit of the world and 
renew my inner life to inherit from my 
God a new blessing. Lord, let Thy Spirit 
work mightily within me. 

And as I thus pray for myself I pray 
also for the whole congregation. Grant, 
Lord, in behalf of all thy children an over- 
flowing outpouring of Thy Spirit, in order 
that this Supper may really be for all of 
us a time of quickening and renewal of 
our energies. Amen. 



20 



MONDAY MORNING 
Zbc ©reparation 

11 Where wilt Thou that we go and make ready, 
that Thou mayest eat the passover ? " " He will 
himself show you a large upper room furnished 
and ready, and there make ready for us." "If 
thou set thine heart aright, then stretch out thine 
hands toward Him." — MAEKiv. 12, 15; Job xi. 13. 

The greater a work is that a man under- 
takes the more important is the prepara- 
tion. Four days before the Passover the 
Israelite had to make his preparations. 
The Lord Jesus also desired that care 
should be taken to obtain an upper room 
furnished and ready where the Passover 
might be prepared. When I am called 
upon to meet my God and to sit down at 
His table, I will see to it that I do not ap- 
proach it unprepared. Otherwise I should 
dishonor Him and lose the blessing which 
is destined for me, and cover my soul with 
heavy guilt. 

21 



The Lord's Table 

For a right preparation two things are 
necessary. The first is this : that my heart 
should be occupied and filled with Him 
who has invited me, and with all the glori- 
ous blessing which He is to bestow upon 
me. Great thoughts of Jesus and large 
expectations of what His love will do will 
set the heart aglow and be the best prepa- 
ration for meeting Himself. 

The second part of preparation is to 
consider if I shall be a worth}^ guest, ac- 
ceptable and welcome to the Lord of the 
Feast : that is, if I am really an invited 
guest willing and prepared to come to the 
table according to the law of the King in 
such a manner as He will approve of. To 
cherish mean thoughts of myself, and no 
more expectation from myself or of any 
good in me, and out of this to have deep- 
rooted renunciation of myself in order to 
be willing to live through Jesus alone — 
this is the attitude of soul which leads to 
a blessed observance of the Supper. 

Man obtains nothing without laying out 

time upon it. Even where free grace is to 

do everything apart from our working, we 

must give it time to carry out its work in 

22 



The Week before the Supper 

our hearts. It is only when in secrecy I 
resolve with myself to look to Jesus until 
my desires become truly operative within 
me, that I shall be really prepared for the 
banquet. It is only when I deal trustfully 
with Him in the ordinary converse of the 
hidden and the daily life, that I can expect 
extraordinary blessing from public com- 
munion with Him at His table. Yea, 
hunger and thirst cannot be awakened 
simply when I see the table. It is in the 
conflict of the preceding life that hunger 
and thirst are aroused. Only for such is 
the table a feast. May this quickening 
not be wanting to me in this preparation. 
But, alas I just as little as it was my 
work to prepare the table with its food, am 
I in a position to prepare myself as a guest 
for the feast. The Lord who says, " All 
things are ready," has also prepared the 
wedding garment. He Himself will clothe 
the guests and prepare them for His feast. 
Therefore I will ask Him for this also. It 
was of the Lord that the disciples asked : 
" Where wilt thou that we prepare the 
passover ? " Of Him also I may and will 
ask : " Lord, how wilt thou that I prepare 
23 



The Lord's Table 

the passover ? " This week I will continue 
in quiet meditations and prayer at His feet, 
with eye and heart fixed upon Him. I 
know assuredly that I shall find what is 
needful for me in celebrating this feast. 

PRAYER. 

Lord, deliver me from all superficiality 
and light-mindedness in drawing near to 
Thy table. Too often have I supposed 
that it is self-evident I must use again the 
Lord's Supper. I have considered too 
little how needful it was to take the stones 
out of the way, when the Lord Himself 
shall come to prepare His way and make 
His path straight. I fancied that it was 
a light thing to receive blessing. Lord, 
forgive me this error. Do Thou Thyself 
enable my soul to understand what is 
meant by saying that sinful man shall meet 
his God. Do Thou Thyself work within 
me true conscientiousness and eagerness to 
lay bare and to lay aside every sin, and 
trust myself wholly to Thee with a real 
surrender of the whole soul and of all its 
powers. 

Lord Jesus, hear, I beseech Thee, this 
24 



The Week before the Supper 

my petition. Lord, grant that I may 
not lose the blessing by thoughtlessness 
or idleness. my Lord, how much has it 
cost Thee to prepare the table for me, and 
now even this is not enough. I must still 
ask Thee to prepare me for the table. I 
thank Thee for the joyful assurance which 
I have that Thou wilt do this. Therefore I 
place myself for this week in Thy hands, in 
order that by Thy working in me a right 
condition of soul may be brought into ex- 
istence. 

Precious Lord, grant me the broken and 
contrite heart. And grant unto me to 
look up unto Thee with a living, active 
faith as my Friend, my Saviour, my All. 
Grant, Lord Jesus, that I also may be 
able to saj T : I have but one thought, one 
desire, and that is Jesus. So shall I be 
prepared with honor to the Father to 
glorify Thee by my cheerful confession 
that I desire nothing but Thee, and Thy 
wonderful love. 

My Saviour, I depend upon Thee 
throughout this week. Work thou in me 
a true preparation for the Supper. I ex- 
pect it from Thee. Amen. 
25 



TUESDAY MORNING 
Gbe Iboat 

" And He said unto them, With desire have I 
desired to eat this passover with you." " Behold, 
I stand at the door and knock : if any man hear 
My voice, and open the door, I will come in to 
him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." — 
Luke xxii. 15; Kev. iii. 20. 

The best preparation is — to look into 
the heart of Jesus. When you understand 
what He that sits on the throne desires for 
you, how He longs after you, what He has 
prepared for you, this will more than aught 
else set your desires and longings in 
motion, and impart to you the right prep- 
aration. 

That word of Jesus at the Paschal Table 
enables me to look into His heart. He 
knew that He must go from that feast to 
the Cross. He knew that His body must 
be broken, and His blood shed, in order 
that He might be really your Passover. 
26 



The Week before the Supper 

He knew how in that night they should 
grieve and betray Him, and }'et He says : 
u With desire have I desired to eat this 
passover with you." What a love this is ! 
And Jesus is still the same. Even with 
you, poor sinner, He earnestly desires to 
eat the Passover. Yea, on the throne of 
heaven, He looks forward with longing to 
the day of the Supper, to eat with } t ou, 
and to quicken you. man, let your slug- 
gishness put you to shame : Jesus earn- 
estly desires — Jesus greatly longs — to ob- 
serve the Supper with you : He would not 
enjoy the food of heavenly life alone : He 
would fain eat of it along with you. 

Or, we may think of it as that other 
word says : In order to observe the Supper 
with the soul, He stands at the door and 
knocks. Wonderful condescension ! What 
is there in the vile sinner that the King of 
Heaven longs to sit down beside him ? In 
order to hold a feast in my heart, Jesus 
stands at the door and knocks. Is not 
this inconceivable love? Is it not un- 
speakable blessing ? 

He would fain come in Himself. His 
presence is the special joy of the feast. 
27 



The Lord's Table 

And He Himself will hand to ine and 
make me partaker of the heavenly food He 
brings to me. Even as the little weak in- 
fant, that does not know how to eat, is fed 
by its mother's hand, so will Jesus break 
for me the bread of heaven, and impart to 
me what I have need of. 

Glorious Paschal feast thus observed 
with Jesus : glorious Supper held with 
Jesus. He is the Entertainer : He is the 
Wedding Garment: He is also the Pood. 
He knows precisely what I need: He 
knows what it is that has hindered me 
hitherto, and the love of Jesus has seen 
meet to impart to me at His table just that 
one thing which can satisfy my hunger. 
Dost Thou, Lord Jesus, earnestly desire 
to keep the Passover with me ? I venture 
to answer : I also earnestly desire to ob- 
serve the Supper with Thee. My whole 
heart longs for the Supper with Jesus. 

There is nothing on earth that awakens 
love and rouses it to activity so powerfully 
as the thought of being desired and loved. 
Let me endeavor to conceive how true it is 
that I am an object of desire to the Son of 
God. He looks out to see whether I am 
28 



The Week before the Supper 

coming to Him or not. With the deepest 
interest, He would know whether I come 
hungering after Him, so that He may be 
able to bestow much of His blessing upon 
me. That would be such a joy to His 
love. " Open thy mouth wide ; I will fill 
it abundantly." Thus does He stir me up 
to earnest longings. His desire is toward 
me. My soul, believe and ponder this 
wonderful thought, until you feel drawn 
with overmastering force to give yourself 
over to Jesus, for the satisfaction of II is 
desire toward you : then shall you too be 
satisfied. 

PRAYER. 

Eternal Love, what am I that Thou 
shouldest desire to eat with me ? Lord, it 
is too great a boon that Thou shouldest 
earnestly desire to eat with me : with me, 
who have desired so little to eat with 
Thee, who have longed so much more for 
the food that perisheth and for the fellow- 
ship of the world than for Thee and Thy 
heavenly bread. My Lord, give me so to 
feel the desire of Thy soul to eat with me, 
that my sluggishness and my unbelief 
29 



The Lord's Table 

shall be ashamed, and all that is within me 
may prepare to set my heart open with 
joy before Thee. 

Yea, Lord, too long have I suffered 
Thee to stand at the door and knock : now 
will I open it to Thee. Make even my 
heart a banquet hall furnished and pre- 
pared where Thou mayest make ready the 
passover. Let the sight of Thy blood 
poured out for me be to me the full assur- 
ance of redemption. Let the eating of the 
Lamb fill me with the power of a heavenly 
life. Let the eating with Thee be fellow- 
ship with Thyself and Thy love be the joy 
of my soul. Blessed Jesus, let the love 
of Thy heart which draws Thee to me, 
also draw me to Thee. 

My Saviour, it is this especially that I 
crave at Thy hand : unveil to me the love 
of Thy heart that makes Thee long so 
much after me. I know that this is one of 
the secret things that remain for Thy dear- 
est friends, and I hardly dare reckon my- 
self amongst them. And yet, Lord, may 
I venture to do so ? Grant me, I pray 
Thee, one more glance into Thy heart, that 
I may know how earnestly Thou dost de- 
30 



The Week before the Supper 

sire to eat with me. Let my soul conceive 
what it is to have me at Thy table with 
this great desire. Thou wouldst have me 
as Thine own possession. Thou wouldst 
enter into the deepest communion with me. 
Thou wouldst communicate Thyself to me. 
Thou wouldst become one with me. Thou 
wouldst have me for Thyself. My Jesus, 
if this be really so, cause me to feel it. Let 
not rny heart remain in darkness. Then 
shall I turn away from all else, and my 
life shall be filled with one supreme desire 
— to eat with Jesus, my King and my 
Friend. Precious Jesus, grant that it may 
indeed be so. Amen. 



31 



WEDNESDAY MORNING 
SelteBsamfnation 

"But let a man prove himself, and so let him 
eat of the bread and drink of the cup." "Try 
your own selves, whether ye be in the faith : prove 
your own selves. Or know ye not as to your own 
selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? unless indeed, 
ye be reprobate." — 1 Coe. xi. 28; 2 Cob. xiii. 5. 

No one may eat of the bread without 
self-examination. The danger of " un- 
worthy communicating " is indeed very 
great. The sin of " making oneself guilty 
of the body and blood of the Lord " is 
very grave. The possibility of eating 
judgment unto oneself is very fearful (read 
1 Cor. xi. 27-30). Everyone who is truly 
desirous of a blessing at the table will be 
very willing to yield obedience to the com- 
mand of our Lord j " Try your own 
selves : " " Prove your own selves." 

The problem of self-examination is 
simple. According to the apostle, there 
32 



The Week before the Supper 

are but two conditions, either Jesus Christ 
is in you, or ye are reprobate : one of two. 
There is no third condition. The life of 
Christ in you may still be weak ; but if 
you are truly born again and a child of 
God, Christ is in you. And then as a 
child you have access to the table of the 
Father and a share in the children's bread. 
But if Christ is not in you, you are 
" reprobate." Nothing that is in you, 
nothing that you do, or are, or even desire 
and wish to be, makes you acceptable to 
God. The God against whom you have 
sinned inquires only about one thing : 
whether you have received His Son. u He 
that hath the Son hath the life." With 
nothing less than this can He be content : 
with this He is fully satisfied. If Christ 
is in you, you are acceptable to the Father. 
But if Christ is not in you, you are at the 
very same moment " reprobate." You 
have come in to the Lord's Supper without 
the wedding garment : your lot must be in 
the outermost darkness. You are un- 
worthy. You eat judgment to yourself. 
You make yourself " guilty of the body 
and blood of the Lord." 
33 



The Lord's Table 

Reader, how is it with 3 T ou ? What will 
God say of you when He sees you at the 
table ? Will God look upon you as one of 
His children, who are very heartily 
welcome to Him at His table, or as an in- 
truder who has no right to be at His table ? 
You would not for a moment sit down at 
the table of a man on earth if you were 
aware that you were not welcome to him, 
or if you thought that he did not willingly 
see you there. Surely, then, you would 
not dream of sitting down at the table of 
God, while it is still possible that He may 
look upon you with anger, as one who is 
desecrating His ordinance. Reader, pray 
answer this question : What will God say 
of you when He beholds you at His table ? 
You are one of two things ; you are either 
a true believer and a child of God, or you 
are not. If you are a child of God, you 
have a right to the table and eat the bread 
of the Father, however feeble you may be. 
But if you are not a child of God, no true 
believer, you have no right to it. You 
may not go forward to it. 

Reader, try your own self, whether you 
are in the faith : prove yourself. And 
34 






The Week before the Supper 

should it appear that you do not yet have 
Christ, then even to-day receive Him. 
There is still time. Without delay give 
yourself to Christ : in Him you have a 
right to the Lord's Table. 

PRAYER. 

Search me, God, and know my heart, 
try me and know my thoughts, and see if 
there be any wicked way in me, and lead 
me in the way that is everlasting. Lord, 
Thou knowest how deceitful the heart is, 
far above all things. But, Lord, Thou 
knowest the heart, even my heart. And 
now I come to Thee, Omniscient One, and 
set my heart before Thee with the prayer : 
Lord, make me know whether Jesus 
Christ is in me, or whether I am still 
without Him, and reprobate before Thee. 

Of old, Thou Thyself didst see to it that 
hypocrites should be cast out from the 
midst of Thy people. Thou didst point 
out Achan. Thou didst make known the 
man who dipped his hand in the dish with 
Thy Son. Thou didst detect Ananias. 
Thou art the King who comest in to scru- 
tinize the guests that have sat down, and 
35 



The Lord's Table 

who sayest : " Friend, bow earnest thou in 
hither, not being in the wedding gar- 
ment ? " Thou art still mighty to search 
the hearts. Lord, hear now the supplica- 
tion of Thy people, and purge Thy con- 
gregation. Let the life of the Spirit be- 
come so powerful that all doubts shall 
vanish, and Thy children know and con- 
fess that Christ is in them. Let Thy pres- 
ence in their midst effect such a joy and 
such a reverence that mere confessors with 
the lips shall be afraid, and the self-right- 
eous be brought to detection. Lord, make 
it known to many who are still content in 
uncertainty, whether Christ is in them or 
whether they are reprobate. 

Great God, make this known to me. Is 
Jesus Christ in me ? Let the Holy Spirit 
give me the blessed assurance of this. 
Then shall I sit down with confidence as 
Thy child at Thy table. 

And if Jesus Christ is still not in me, 
and I am still without Christ and repro- 
bate before Thee, Thou merciful One, make 
this known to me. Make me willing to 
know this, and not to draw near to Thy 
table except that Jesus Christ is in me. 
36 



The Week before the Supper 

Lord, I come now to Thee to set my heart 
open before Jesus, and to receive Him as 
my Saviour. Amen. 

PRAYER. 

{for one who has discovered that Jesus Christ 
is not in him). 

Lord God, I had thought of going for- 
ward to Thy table. A sense of obligation 
came even to me, and I made myself ready 
for the hour of the feast. But, behold, Thy 
word has made me afraid. It tells me 
that, if Jesus Christ is not in me, I am 
reprobate. 

Lord, have compassion upon me. I know 
that I may not sit down without the wed- 
ding garment. Thou art the Lord of the 
table : Thy word must prevail there. 
Thou art the Holy God. Thou canst not 
meet in love with the sinner who is not 
washed from his sin and clothed with the 
righteousness of Christ. And, Lord, I fear 
that I am still without that wedding gar- 
ment : my sins are not forgiven me. Lord, 
have pity upon me : I dare not go to Thy 
table : the bread of the children is not 
for me. 

37 



The Lord's Table 

I dare not go forward. And yet, Lord, 
I dare not remain away. To have no part 
in Jesus, no share in Thy friendship, no 
place in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb 
on high — woe is me, if this must be my 
lot. Lord, have mercy upon me, and, if it 
be possible, grant unto me that which I re- 
quire for sitting down at Thy table. 

Lord God, I have heard of Thy mercy. 
Thou givest the wedding garment for noth- 
ing : Thou forgivest the vilest sinner. Too 
long have I been content without really 
having Jesus Christ in me. Lord, now I 
come to Thee. Before Thee I lay my un- 
righteousness, which is great. I am en- 
tirely under the power of sin, and cannot 
help myself. Lord, Thou alone canst help 
me : and Thou wilt also do it. Be pleased 
to receive me. I cast myself down here 
before Thee : I here surrender myself to 
Thee. This day let the blood of Jesus 
wash me. 

Lord Jesus, given by the Father for me, 
I receive Thee. I receive Thee, Lord, as 
my Saviour. I believe that Thou art for 
me. Here I give Thee my heart — my 
poor, sinful heart : come and dwell in it, 



The Week before the Supper 

and let me also know that Jesus Christ 
is in me. 

My God, my soul cries out and longs 
for Thee : make me truly partaker of 
Jesus. Amen. 



39 



THURSDAY MORNING 
Confeasion of Sin 

"I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry 
for my sin." u How many are mine iniquities 
and sins: make me to know my transgression 
and my sin." " Blessed are they that mourn, for 
they shall be comforted." — Ps. xxxviii. 18; Job 
xiii. 23 ; Matt. v. 4. 

" At the outset," says our Directory, 
" let everyone examine his heart, to see 
whether he be grieved on account of his 
sins, and humble himself before God." 
This is the first element of genuine self- 
examination. It cannot indeed be other- 
wise. The salvation of the Lord Jesus is 
a salvation from sin. The power, the 
grace, the blessing of Jesus are exhibited 
in the taking away of sin out of us, and 
the implanting within us instead of the 
holiness and the life of heaven. And it is 
because the Lord's Supper is intended to 
serve as a renewed and an increased par- 
40 



The Week before the Supper 

ticipation of the life of Christ, that a new 
and deeper acknowledgment of sin is the 
most desirable preparation for the Supper. 
It is not merely he that is still seeking for 
forgiveness who must think of and confess 
his sins. No : it is especially the believer 
that has need to acknowledge aright and 
with all earnestness the sins which he still 
commits and their antipathy to God. The 
more he really despairs of himself, the 
more glorious will Christ become in his 
eyes. The more keenly he feels every sin, 
the more will Jesus become to him. Every 
sin is a need that calls for Jesus. By the 
confession of sin, you point out to Him the 
spot where you are wounded, and where 
He must exhibit the healing power of His 
blood. Every sin that you confess is an 
acknowledgment of something which Jesus 
must cast out, and the place of which He 
is bound to fill up with one of the lovely 
gifts of His holiness. Every sin that you 
confess is a new reason why you should 
believe more and ask more, and a new rea- 
son why Jesus should bless you. 

Christian, prepare yourself for the Holy 
Supper by thinking of your sins. Be not 
41 



The Lord's Table 

afraid to make mention of them by name 
before Jesus. Point out to Him that 
which } T ou desire He should change in 
you. Sin which is not confessed is also not 
combated. When a saved soul goes to 
Jesus to speak with Him about sin, and to 
make it known to Him, it breaks sin's 
power and makes Him more precious. 
The very same light that enables you to 
feel the curse of sin more deeply, enables 
you also to discern the perfect and final 
victory over it. The experience, utterly 
lost, prepares the way for the experience, 
utterly redeemed. 

Beloved child of God, you do not per- 
haps yet know what a source of blessing a 
deep conviction of sin is. Do not be 
afraid of it : do not turn away from it. 
The blessed Spirit of God will give it to 
you. Through the increasing grace of 
Jesus in you, through your deepening fel- 
lowship in the life of heaven, He will so 
discover its incurable sinfulness, that this 
very experience shall lead you to that 
entire surrender to Jesus which is so 
gloriously sealed in the Lord's Supper. 



42 



The Week before the Supper 

PRAYER. 

Lord God, Thou searchest and knowest 
us. Thou art He that knowest the hearts 
and triest the reins. Before Thee, there is 
no creature that is not made manifest : but 
all things are naked and open before the 
eyes of Him with whom we have to do. 
Thine e} T es see through the heart alike of 
the ungodly and the righteous. Thou are 
the Omniscient One, the Searcher of 
hearts. 

Lord, how terrible is Thine omniscience 
for Thine enemies. That eye which burns 
in heaven as a flame of fire is always upon 
them. They would fain flee away from it, 
but they are never able. But for Thy peo- 
ple, Thine omniscience is a comfort and a 
refuge. Thou art He who can help them 
against themselves and the deceitfulness 
of their own hearts. They invite Thine 
omniscience to search their heart and to 
cleanse them from their secret faults. 

Holy God, I too place myself in Thine 

hands. Search me, God, and know my 

heart. With fear, and yet from the depths 

of my heart, I say unto thee : Holy God, I 

43 



The Lord's Table 

wish to tolerate no single sin, however 
secret or deeply rooted it may be. Lord, I 
crave Thy help : I place nr^self in the 
light of Thy flaming eyes, before which no 
sin can stand. Search me, God, and 
know my heart. 

I know, Lord, that the answer is often- 
times terrible : " By terrible things Thou 
wilt answer us in righteousness, God of 
our salvation." I know, when Thou dost 
suffer man to enter into temptation and let 
him see what is in his heart, that the hu- 
miliation and the shame and the sorrow 
are often deep and bitter. I know that 
when Thou trustest Thy mighty hand into 
the bosom to root out the almost unknown 
and yet deeply-rooted sin, flesh and blood 
must then fail. And yet I cry : Search 
me, O God, and know my heart. 

Lord, make me know the sin to which I 
am blind : my characteristic sins also, about 
which I am so sensitive when any other 
speaks of them, whether it be the love of 
money with its seduction, or the love of 
the world with its vanity, or the love of 
self with its entanglement, make me to 
know it. Lord, use friend or foe : use what 
44 



The Week before the Supper 

means Thou wilt, my Father : only 
search me and know my heart : cleanse me 
from secret errors, and let no hurtful way 
abide with me, but lead me in the way that 
is everlasting. 

Yes, gracious Lord, give me such an 
overmastering conviction of the entire cor- 
ruption of my nature that I shall be con- 
strained to receive in its completeness the 
perfect redemption of Christ. Amen. 



45 



FRIDAY MORNING 
afaitb 

11 Thy sins are forgiven. Thy faith hath 
saved thee : go in peace." — Luke vii. 48-50. 

At the table Jesus gathers His friends, 
and the Father waits only for His children 
to distribute to them the children's bread. 
The table is not the place for me to be con- 
verted or to ask the expiation of my sins. 
No : these blessings I must seek in sol- 
itude : in the inner chamber Jesus will 
suffer Himself to be found with eagerness 
and certainty. The table is the place for 
His redeemed to confess their Lord, for 
His believers to have their faith strength- 
ened, for His friends to renew their cove- 
nant. On this account our Directory 
mentions to us as the second element of 
self-examination before we go to the table, 
the question whether we really believe in 
the forgiveness of our sins. " In the next 
4t> 



The Week before the Supper 

place, let everyone examine his heart as to 
whether he also believes this sure promise 
of God that all his sins are forgiven for 
Christ's sake." It is through faith in the 
forgiveness of sins that the soul obtains 
confidence to draw near to the Lord, and 
thereby also obtains the blessing of a 
strengthened faith. 

Reader, you are to go to the Lord's Sup- 
per : do you believe in the forgiveness of 
your sins ? You know what this means. 
Forgiveness is not the taking away of the 
sinfulness of the heart or sanctification : 
no, but only the beginning of the way by 
which it is to be reached. Forgiveness is 
the free declaration by which God acquits 
you of the evil you have hitherto done, 
and no longer reckons the guilt of it to 
you. Forgiveness comes first in order : 
then forthwith begins sanctification and re- 
newal. For the present this is the ques- 
tion before you : Do you believe in the for- 
giveness of your sins — that your sins are 
blotted out ? 

You know what faith is. You know 
that it is a feeling, an experience of some- 
thing that keeps man intently occupied 
47 



The Lord's Table 

with his own condition. You know that 
it is a going out of ourselves to find a 
resting place in God and His word, so that 
faith in the forgiveness of sins is the certi- 
tude that your sins are forgiven, and that 
on no other ground except that God has 
said He has done so. Consequently, faith 
that your sins are forgiven is nothing but 
the confidence that you, as a poor sinner 
resting in His word, have come to Him, 
and that your sins have been blotted out 
of His book. You know it, because God 
has promised it. 

Reader, do you thus believe in the for- 
giveness of sins — "that your sins are 
blotted out for Christ's sake " ? Are you 
one of those concerning whom the Direc- 
tory says : " Let everyone examine his 
heart whether he has believed the sure 
promise of God that all his sins are for- 
given, and that the perfect righteousness 
of Christ is bestowed upon him and reck- 
oned to him as his own " ? Yea, as com- 
pletely as if he himself in his own person 
had atoned for all his sins and fulfilled all 
righteousness. 

Blessed are ye who believe this. You 
48 



The Week before the Supper 

have confidence to draw near to the Lord's 
Table. Believing in the truth of the 
word, " He abundantly pardons," believing 
in the power of Jesus Christ really to 
cleanse the conscience, believing with a 
personal appreciation that the promise of 
forgiveness is also for you, you know that 
your guilt is blotted out — that your sins 
are remembered no more. 

Christian, come to the table in this 
faith. Let your song of praise be : u Bless 
the Lord, my soul, who forgiveth all 
thine iniquities." Ask for the Holy Spirit, 
that He may make faith in forgiveness 
within you more certain, more powerful, 
more joyful. You will then experience at 
the table what a life of love and blessing 
and growing power God has prepared for 
all on whom He first bestows the forgive- 
ness of sins. 

PRAYER. 

Lord God, I find myself on the way to 
Thy table. I desire also to receive there 
what Jesus gives when He says : " This 
cup is the New Covenant in my blood 
which is poured out for you for the for- 
49 



The Lord's Table 

giveness of sins.' 11 Lord, I desire this day 
to acknowledge in a new act of faith my 
participation in the forgiveness of sins, 
and thus to meet with Thee at the Supper 
as Thine own in the joy of redemption. 

For this end, wilt Thou grant unto me 
a sight of the work of Jesus as all-suffi- 
cient and perfectly fulfilled, so that there is 
nothing for me now to do save to receive 
it and rejoice in it? Renew in me by the 
Holy Spirit the living assurance of my 
part in Jesus. And help me, Lord, with a 
clearer faith than ever before to appropri- 
ate the whole redemption of Thy Son with 
all Thy rich and glorious promises. 

Lord, I beseech Thee, let no doubt rob 
me of this blessing. When I look to my- 
self, there is nothing but fear and condem- 
nation. When I have to question my heart 
and what I feel there, I have no hope. But 
I look to Thy word. It makes me cry out : 
" Who is a God like unto Thee that for- 
giveth iniquity?" (Mic. vii. 18). That 
word points me to the Cross of Thy dear 
Son, who died for the ungodly, and says to 
me: " The blood of Jesus Christ cleans- 
eth from all sin." " If we confess our sins, 
50 



The Week before the Supper 

He is faithful and righteous to forgive all 
our sins." That word teaches me to say : 
" With Thee is forgiveness." Lord, on 
that word I depend : With Thee is for- 
giveness. I have confessed my sin before 
Thee : I lay my whole sinfulness bare be- 
fore Thee, and I believe that through the 
virtue of the blood of Jesus, Thou forgiv- 
est my sin. 

My God, grant me grace to hold fast by 
this truth, and with every fresh sin to flee 
always straight to the blood of Christ. 
Grant that I may sit down at Thy table 
with the blessed joy of a firm faith in the 
great promise of the New Covenant : " I 
will be gracious to your iniquities, and 
your sins and transgressions will I remem- 
ber no more." 

Lord God, this Thou hast said, and that 
will I believe. Amen. 



51 



SATURDAY MORNING 
Self^SutrenDcr 

"The love of Christ constraineth us ; because 
we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all 
died: and He died for all, that they which live 
shall no longer live unto themselves, but unto 
Him who for their sake died, and rose again.' y — 
2 Coe. v. 14, 15. 

" In the third place, let everyone exam- 
ine his heart to see whether he is conscious 
of having heretofore manifested genuine 
thankfulness toward God with his whole 
life." So the Directory expresses what 
must constitute the third part of self-ex- 
amination, whether I have been hitherto 
conscious of dedicating myself to the Lord 
as a living thank offering, not in single 
things only, but in my whole life. 

This is what Jesus desires. Every re- 
deemed soul must be a man consecrated to 
God, entirely separated to live for Him, 
His will, His work, His honor. This also 
52 



The Week before the Supper 

is what the true Christian desires : he ac- 
knowledges the equity of the demand 
which Jesus makes, the perfect right which 
Jesus has to him as his blood-bought pos- 
session. This is what the true Christian 
expects in the power of the love of Christ 
shed abroad in the heart, in the strength 
of the new life. And this dedication, this 
complete surrender, is what the believer 
especially confesses and completes in the 
Lord's Supper. 

The Lord's Supper is always a sacrificial 
repast, and that in a double sense. Under 
the Old Covenant there were special sacri- 
fices — namely, the sin offering, the burnt 
offering, and the thank offering. The sin 
offering, by which atonement was made, 
was the type of the sacrifice of Christ 
alone. " He was made sin for us." The 
burnt offering, which had to be wholly 
consumed by fire on the altar, as a symbol 
of entire devotedness to the service of God, 
was the type alike of the sacrifice of Christ 
and of the sacrifice of believers in which 
they surrender themselves to the Lord 
(Kom. xii. 1). Then last, the idea of 
thank offering is exhibited more fully to 
53 



The Lord's Table 

the apprehension in the feast of thank 
offering and in the fellowship that ensued. 

Of the sin offering, by which atonement 
was made, the priests might eat, as a token 
of their fellowship with God through the 
atonement. The Lord's Supper is our fel- 
lowship in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus 
Christ which has done away with sin for- 
ever. Of the thank offering in which ded- 
ication to God was shown forth, the offerer 
himself might also eat in recognition of 
his fellowship with God in this dedication. 
The Lord's Supper is a communion with 
Christ, not only because He offered Him- 
self up for us, but because in and with 
Him we offer ourselves to the Father with 
all that we have. 

Marvellous union : Jesus offers Himself 
to me : I offer myself to Him : Jesus gives 
Himself wholly for me : I give myself 
wholly for Him. My sacrifice is the coun- 
terpart, the reflection, of His. 

With what earnestness did He prepare 
Himself for the fulfilment of His sacrifice, 
in order that His will might really yield 
itself completely and wholly to the Father. 
As for me, how much more need have I of 
54 



The Week before the Supper 

preparation for asking whether, while I 
take a whole Christ for myself, I yield my- 
self with my whole life to Him. 

" Let every one examine his heart." Be- 
liever, the observance of the Supper is a 
glorious opportunity of renewed dedication 
to your Lord. Let the Holy Spirit dis- 
cover to you what it is to be a decided 
Christian: undividingly, unceasingly sur- 
rendered to Jesus in heart and hand and 
lips, at home and in society ; living for 
Jesus, working zealously for Jesus ; a 
burnt offering which is given entirely for 
God, and is consumed by the fire of the 
Spirit. In this spirit, prepare yourself to 
be willingly bound to the horns of the 
altar. 

PRAYER. 

My Father, Thou callest me to Thy table 
to participate by faith anew in the sacrifice 
of Thy Son : I cry to Thee, in turn, to 
make me partaker of the power, the incli- 
nation, and the spirit of His self-sacrifice, 
that I, in fellowship with Him, may in like 
manner offer myself up to Thee. " Through 
the Eternal Spirit He offered Himself up 
55 



The Lord's Table 

to God." My God, let the same Spirit 
make me also, on my part, a complete of- 
fering to Thee. 

My Father, grant unto me to see that 
self-offering constitutes the essence and 
the worth of His sacrifice. Let the sur- 
render of my feeling and will to the will 
of God be the mark of my piety. Yea, 
Lord, let me live as one who offers himself 
wholly to the desire of God and man to 
further Thine honor and their salvation. 

My Father, at the Supper I desire truly 
to present myself as a living, holy sacri- 
fice, well pleasing, to God — an offering 
that shall be wholly consumed. 

For this end, I entreat Thee for grace to 
prepare myself for this sacrifice, as Thy 
Son prepared Himself for the sacrifice on 
Golgotha by saying in Gethsemane : " Not 
My will, but Thine be done. So would 1 
offer myself as a sacrifice to Thee with the 
complete surrender of my will : may Th3 r 
will be all in all to me, O my God. Lord 
enable me to say in truth : " I live only to 
do the will of God." In the strength of 
Jesus Christ, who liveth in me and in 
whom I offer myself to Thee, I venture to 
56 



The Week before the Supper 

make His language my own : " Lo I come 
to do Thy will, O God ! " 

Lord, prepare me also to say : I desire 
here before Thee to renounce every known 
and unknown sin. All self-seeking and 
self-will I desire to abandon before Thee. 
I take Jesus Christ as my holiness, my 
strength, my victory ; and in virtue of the 
new nature which He has prepared for me, 
I say: Father, no more sin, but Thy will 
only — Thy will wholly, Thy will always 
and in all. 

Lord Jesus, who didst give Thyself for me, 
I give myself to Thee. Yea, Lord, in this 
very moment, where I in solitude am this 
morning preparing myself for the Supper, 
I say before heaven and earth : Jesus, Son 
of God, I will give myself wholly to Thee, 
to live now and henceforth only for Thee. 
Lord Jesus, I do this now. And as one 
who is offered to the Father and to Thee, 
I will go to the Supper table, there to be 
confirmed in the faith and confession; I 
am no longer my own : I have been 
bought with a high price : I will glorify 
God in my body and my spirit, which are 
God's. 

57 



SATURDAY EVENING 
B ipra^er tor tbe 1bolE Spirit 

Lord God, I thank Thee heartily that 
Thou hast led me throughout this week of 
preparation, and that I can now cherish 
the hope of eating with Thee and Thy Son 
on the morrow at the Table of the Cove- 
nant. I thank Thee for every opportunity 
of meditation and prayer, so that I may 
not thoughtlessly appear in the sanctuary. 
In this quiet evening hour, I come once 
more to Thee to beseech Thee for the gift 
of the Holy Spirit. 

Lord God, Thou hast taught us to say 
that without Him there can be no true 
prayer, no real fellowship with Thyself. 
Therefore hast Thou given to every one of 
Thy children the Holy Spirit, by whom 
they may have access in Christ to the 
Father. Lord, what I would entreat of 
Thee is this : that the Spirit may now 
work mightily in me, so as tc impart to me 
all the dispositions by which I may draw 
58 



The Week before the Supper 

near to Thee in the holy adornment of Thy 
chosen ones. I know that I have only been 
all too unfaithful to Him. Father, forgive 
me, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. 
May He convince me anew of sin. May 
He work in me true penitence, so that I 
may remember my sinfulness with a con- 
trite heart. Lord, my God, I desire 
this evening to remember, to confess, and 
to cast away every sin that still cleaves to 
me. {Here the believing suppliant may 
think of his own special sins, confess them, 
and abjure them before God.) I would 
think with loathing on myself and the 
deep aversion of my nature from God, and 
would forever renounce all confidence in 
myself, and all satisfaction with myself. 
Lord God, let the Holy Spirit so work in 
me, and spiritually so renew me, that all 
sin shall become more and more hateful 
and intolerable ; and that in like manner, 
through the spiritual acknowledgement of 
my corrupt nature, I may meet with Thee 
in a more humble and tender spirit. May 
a sweet, blessed lowliness of mind be the 
fruit of a rich indwelling of the Spirit in 
my heart. 

59 



The Lord's Table 

And Lord, in like manner may the re- 
sult of Thine own Spirit's operation in me 
be a strong, a joyful faith, that a full 
Christ, with all His promises and all His 
blessings, is inwardly appropriated and en- 
joyed. Yea, my God, may the Spirit 
bring out in me that fruit which in the 
sight of man seems so undesirable — the 
humility of one who feels himself worthy 
only of rejection, coupled with the glad- 
ness of one who is redeemed, who is a be- 
loved child. 

May He also discover to me, and shed 
abroad in me, the eternal love of our God, 
so that my experience of His personal af- 
fection for me may be a thousandfold 
clearer and more certain than the affection 
of any man on earth. Lord, the Holy 
Spirit can effect this. He can bring down 
from heaven into my soul the love of God 
as a real gift : grant that this gift may be 
near at this time of communion. Lord, I 
depend upon Thy promise ; I wait for the 
mighty working of the Spirit. 

Then shall my love burst out into a 
flame at the Table. Then shall I behold 
the countenance of my Lord, and my 



The Week before the Supper 

whole heart shall be won by Him. Then 
shall my surrender to the Lord be a real 
and effectual one. Blessed God, withhold 
not from me, but bestow on me in large 
measure, the mighty operations of Thy 
Holy Spirit. Thou hast given Him to be 
in me : may He now fill me. Then shall 
my observance of the Supper be truly a 
fellowship of the Spirit with the Father 
and the Son. Then shall I have not only 
heavenly blessing around me and in me, 
but also heavenly life in me, both to know 
and to receive all His blessing. 

Lord, I depend upon Thy promises : I 
set myself now in silence before Thee to 
wait for the Spirit : I give myself to Him 
in the faith that He will work in me. I 
ask this one boon besides : that in Thy 
servant who presides over the congrega- 
tion, and in the congregation itself, Thy 
blessed Spirit, with His silent heavenly 
power, may be mightily at work, so that 
this festal time may be for all a time of 
great blessing. Would that some who 
are still dead may now be made alive. 

Lord, grant this for the sake of Thy Son. 
Amen. 

61 



PART II 

Zbe Communion Sabtatb 



63 



Here, O my Lord, I see Thee face to face ; 

Here would I touch and handle things unseen ; 
Here grasp with firmer hand the eternal grace 

And all my weariness upon Thee lean. 

Here would I feed upon the bread of God, 

Here drink with Thee the royal wine of heaven ; 

Here would I lay aside each earthly load, 
Here taste afresh the calm of sin forgiven. 

This is the hour of banquet and of song; 

This is the heavenly table spread for me ; 
Here let me feast, and feasting still prolong 

The brief, bright hour of fellowship with Thee. 

HORATITJS BONAB. 



64 



THE MORNING OF THE 
LORD'S DAY 

Bn jBzevcise of ffaftb 

Beloved Lord Jesus, to Thee is the 
desire of my soul. Thou art He in whom 
the love of the Father is disclosed to me. 
Thou art He who hast loved me even unto 
death on earth, and still lovest me in Thy 
glory on high. Thou art He in whom 
alone my soul has its life. Beloved Lord 
Jesus, my soul cleaves hard to Thee. On 
this holy morning I will prepare myself to 
go to the table by exercising and confess- 
ing anew my faith in Thee. My Saviour, 
do Thou Thyself come into me : my faith 
can only be the fruit of what Thou givest 
me to know of Thyself. 

My Saviour, I come to Thee this morn- 
ing, as aforetime, with the confession that 
there is nothing in myself on which I can 
lean. All my experiences confirm to me 
what Thou hast said of my corruption: 
65 



The Lord's Table 

that in me, that is, in my flesh, there 
dwelleth no good thing. And yet I come 
to Thee to lay my claim before Thee, to 
let it prevail with Thee, and to take Thee 
as mine own. 0, my Lord, my claim rests 
on the word of my Father, that He has 
given His Son for sinners, that Thou didst 
die for the ungodly. My sinfulness is my 
claim upon Thee : Thou art for sinners. 
My claim is God's eternal righteousness: 
the Surety has paid ; the guilty must go 
free. My claim rests on Thy love : Thou 
hast compassion on the wretched. My 
claim is Thy faithfulness : 0, my Saviour, 
I have given myself to Thee and Thou 
hast received me, and what thou hast be- 
gun in me, Thou wilt gloriously complete. 
That which has passed betwixt Thee and 
me gives me increased courage ; and now I 
come to take Thee as mine, and enjoy 
Thee, with all Thou art and hast. Blessed 
Lord, unveil Thyself to me, in order that 
my faith may be truly strong and joyful. 

Yes : Lord Jesus, Thou art mine : with 

all Thy fulness Thou art mine. God be 

praised, I can say this : Thy blood is mine : 

it has atoned for all, yea all, my sins. Thy 

66 



The Communion Sabbath 

righteousness is mine ; yea, Thou Thj T self 
art ray righteousness, and makest me al- 
together acceptable to the Father. Thy 
love is mine : yea, in all its height and 
depth and length and breadth is Thy love 
mine, Jesus : it is the habitation in which 
I abide, the very air I breathe. And all 
that Thou hast is mine. Thy wisdom is 
mine ; Thy strength is mine ; Thy holiness 
is mine ; Thy life is mine ; Thy glory is 
mine ; Thy Father is mine. Beloved Lord 
Jesus, my soul has only one desire this 
day : that Thou, my Almighty Friend, 
wouldst make me with a silent but very 
powerful activity of faith to behold Thee, 
and inwardly appropriate Thee as my pos- 
session. Lord Jesus, in the simplicity of 
a faith that depends only on Thee, I say : 
God be praised, Jesus with all His fulness 
is mine. How little do I yet thoroughly 
know or enjoy this truth : Jesus with all 
His fulness is mine. 

Help me now, Lord, to go to Thy table 
in the blessed expectation of new commu- 
nications out of the treasures of Thy love. 
Let my faith be not only strong, but large : 
may it cause me to open my mouth wide. 
67 



The Lord's Table 

I have so much of which I stand in need 
to-day. But what I need above all is this : 
that I may know my Lord as the daily 
food of my soul, and that I may compre- 
hend how He will every day be my 
strength and my life. My desire is that I 
may understand that not only at the Lord's 
Supper, but every hour of my life on earth, 
my Lord Jesus is willing to take the re- 
sponsibility of my life, to be my life, and 
to live His life in me. Jesus, do enable 
me to grasp this truth to-day. 

Beloved Lord, I believe that Thou hast 
the power to work this in me. I know 
that Thy love is waiting for me, and will 
take great delight in doing this for me. I 
believe, Lord, and Thou wilt come to help 
my unbelief. Yea, although I do not as 
yet thoroughly understand it, I will believe 
that my Jesus will this day communicate 
Himself anew to me as my life, and wilt 
give me, through the operation of His 
Holy Spirit, a larger participation of His 
heavenly life which He lives on high. I 
will believe that what He this day does, 
He will every day henceforth confirm. 
Yea, my precious Saviour, I will this day 
68 



The Communion Sabbath 

betake me with all my misery, and make 
myself over to Thee to dwell in me. And 
I will believe that Thou, because Thou 
art wholly my possession, wilt make myself 
ready and come in and take possession of 
me, and fill me with Thyself. Lord, I 
believe : increase this faith within me. 

And now, Lord, prepare me and all Thy 
congregation for a blessed observance of 
the Supper. Now, unto Him that is able 
to do exceeding abundantly above all that 
we ask or think, according to the power 
that worketh in us, unto Him be the glory 
in the Church and in Christ Jesus, unto 
all generations forever and ever. Amen. 



69 



I 

£afte, Bat 

"Take, eat; this is My body which is given 
for you." — Matt. xxvi. 26; Luke xxii. 19. 

When the Lord says this, He points out 
to us that His body is not so much His as 
it is ours, since He received it and suffered 
it to be broken on the cross, not for His 
own sake, but for ours ; and that He now 
also desires that we should look upon it 
and appropriate it as our own possession. 
Thus, with His body, He gives Himself to 
us, and desires that we should take Him. 
The fellowship of the Lord's Supper is a 
fellowship of giving and taking. Blessed 
giving : blessed taking. 

Blessed giving : the person gives value 
to the gift. Who is He that gives ? It is 
my Creator, who comes here to give what 
my soul needs. It is my Redeemer, who, 
at the table, will give to me in possession 
what He has purchased for me. 
70 



The Communion Sabbath 

And what gives He ? His body and His 
blood. He gives the greatest and the best 
He can bestow : yea, all that it is possible 
for Him to give — the broken body which 
He first offered to the Father as a sacrifice 
for sin, a sacrifice that filled Him with joy. 
And what He offered to the Father, to put 
away sin before Him, He now offers to me, 
to put away sin in me. 

And wherefore gives He this ? Because 
He loves me. He desires to redeem me 
from death, and to bestow on me eternal 
life in Himself. He gives Himself to me 
to be the food, the joy, the living power of 
my soul. blessed, heavenly giving of 
eternal love ! Jesus gives me His own 
body : Jesus gives me Himself. 

And not less blessed taking, for it is so 
simple. Just as I receive with my hand 
the bread that is intended for me, and hold 
it before me as my own, so by faith in the 
word, in which Jesus gives Himself to me, 
I take Him for myself, and I know that 
He is really mine. The bod}^ in which He 
suffered for sin is my possession: the 
power of His atonement is mine. The 
body of Jesus is my food and my life. 
71 



The Lord's Table 

And how/ree is the taking. I think of 
my unworthiness, only to find in it my 
claim on Him, the Righteous One, who 
died for the unrighteous. I think of my 
misery only as the poverty and the hunger 
for which the festal repast is prepared, this 
divine bread so cordially given. What 
Jesus in His love would give so heartily 
and willingly, I will as heartily and freely 
take. 

And so real is the taking. Where God 
gives, there is power and life. In giving, 
there is a communication, a real participa- 
tion of that which is bestowed. Conse- 
quently, my taking does not depend on my 
strength : I have only to receive what my 
Saviour brings to me and inwardly imparts. 
I, a mere worm, take what He, the Al- 
mighty, gives. Blessed giving, blessed 
taking. 

Blessed God, may my taking be in con- 
formity with Thy giving ; Thy giving, the 
standard and the measure of my taking. 
What God gives, I take as a whole. As 
Thou givest, so I also receive, — heartily, 
undividedly, lovingly. Precious Saviour, 
my taking depends wholly on Thy giving. 
72 



The Communion Sabbath 

Come Thou and give : give Thyself truly 
and with power in the communion of the 
Spirit. Come, my eternal Redeemer, and 
let Thy love delight itself and be satisfied 
in me, whilst Thou dost unfold to me the 
divine secret of the word : My body given 
for you. Yea, Lord, I wait upon Thee. 
What thou givest me as my share in Thy 
broken body, that will I take and eat. 
And my soul shall go hence, joyful and 
strengthened, to thank Thee and to serve 
Thee. Amen. 



73 



II 

1fn IRemembrance of dBe 

"Do this in remembrance of Me." — Luke 
xxii. 19. 

" Do this in remembrance of me." Is this 
injunction, then, really necessary ? Can it 
be possible that I should forget Jesus ? 

Forget Jesus ! Jesus, who thought of 
me in eternity ; who, indeed, forgot His 
own sorrows on the Cross, but never for- 
gets mine ; who says to me that a mother 
will sooner forget her sucking child than 
He in heaven will forget me. Can I forget 
Jesus ? Jesus, my Sun, my Surety, my 
Bridegroom ; my Jesus, without whose 
love I cannot live : can I ever forget 
Jesus ? 

Ah, me! how often have I forgotten 
Jesus. How frequently has my foolish 
heart grieved Him and prepared all man- 
ner of sorrow for itself by forgetting 
Jesus. At one time it was in the hour of 
74 



The Communion Sabbath 

care, or sin, or grief, at another in pros- 
perity and joy, that I suffered myself to 
be led astray. O my soul, be deeply 
ashamed that thou shouldst ever forget 
Jesus. 

And Jesus will not be forgotten. He will 
see to it that this shall not take place for 
His own sake. He loves us so dearly that 
He sets great store by our love, and can- 
not endure to be forgotten. Our love is to 
Him His happiness and joy : He requires 
it from us with a holy strictness : He can- 
not endure to be forgotten. So truly has 
the eternal Love chosen us that it longs to 
live in our remembrance every day. 

For our sakes also He will see to it that 
He is not forgotten. By the memory, 
through this kind of remembrance, the 
past becomes the present in perspective. 
Jesus always yearns to be with us and be- 
side us, that He may make us taste of His 
crucified love and the power of His heav- 
enly life. Jesus wills that we should 
always remember Him. 

How I long never more to forget Jesus. 
Thank God, Jesus will so give Himself to 
me at the table that He shall become to me 
75 



The Lord's Table 

one never to be forgotten. At the table 
He will overshadow and satisfy me with 
His love. He will make His love to me 
so glorious that my love shall always hold 
Him in remembrance. What is more, He 
will so unite Himself with me, will so give 
His life in me, that out of the power of 
His own indwelling in me it will not be 
possible for me to forget Him. I have too 
much considered it a duty and a work to 
remember Jesus. Lord Jesus, so fill me 
with Thy joy that it will be an impossi- 
bilit}^ for me not to remember Thee. 

Jesus remembers me with such a tender 
love that He desires and will grant that 
the remembrance of Him shall always live 
in me. It is for this end that He gives me 
the new remembrance of His love in the 
Lord's Supper. I will draw near to it in 
this joyful assurance : Jesus will there 
teach me to remember Him always. 

My Lord, how wonderful is this Thy 
love : that it should be a matter of deep 
interest to Thee to be held in remembrance 
by us, and that Thou shouldst always de- 
sire to live in our remembrance — in our 
love. Thou knowest, Lord, that it is not 
76 



The Communion Sabbath 

by any force my heart can be taught to 
remember Thee. But if by Thy love Thou 
dwellest in me, thinking of Thee becomes 
a joy, — no effort or trouble, but the 
sweetest rest. Lord, my soul praises 
Thee for the wonderful grace of the Sup- 
per. First, Thou givest Thyself in Thine 
eternal and unchangeable love as the daily 
food of our souls, and then Thou dost 
charge us, out of the power of Thy prom- 
ised presence, wherewith Thou wilt feed 
us, not to forget Thee. Now I dare 
promise it. my Lord, at Thy table, 
give Thou Thyself to my soul as its food, 
be eveiy day my food, and Thy love shall 
keep the thought of Thee ever living. 
Then shall I never forget Thee ; no, not 
for a single moment. For then I shall 
have no life save in Thy love. Amen. 



77 



Ill 

"And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and 
gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this 
is My blood. " " The cup of blessing which we 
bless, is it not a communion of the blood of 
Chris t?"— Matt. xxvi. 27, 28; 1 Cor. x. 16. 

" For the life of the flesh is in the 
blood : and I have given it to you upon 
the altar to make atonement for your 
souls : for it is the blood that maketh 
atonement by reason of the life " (Lev. 
xvii. 11). For the blood is the life, the 
living spirit ; and therefore atonement is 
linked with the shedding of blood. It was 
the surrender of the life of an innocent 
animal in the place of guilty man. And 
thus with the shedding of Jesus' blood, 
His life is surrendered for our sins. The 
worth and the power of that blood are the 
worth and the pow T er of the life of Jesus. 
78 



The Communion Sabbath 

Every drop of that blood has in it the 
power of an endless life. 

Jesus gives me His blood. When I be- 
come partaker of that blood, I have part 
in the atonement which it established, the 
forgiveness which it secured. I have part 
in all that wonderful suffering in which it 
was shed. I have part in all the love of 
which that suffering and that bloodshed- 
ding were the revelation. I have part in 
that life which is in the blood and is in it 
first surrendered and then taken up again. 
I have part in the life of Jesus, surren- 
dered upon the Cross, raised from the 
grave and now glorified in heaven. O 
glorious wonders of grace which lie hid in 
that word : " Drink, for this is My blood." 

The blood of Jesus is my drink of life. 
Jesus' love is the power of my life. The 
spirit of Jesus' life is the spirit of my life. 
my God, help me to conceive these 
wonders. How powerful, how heavenly 
must that life be which is nourished by 
the New Wine of the kingdom and has 
communion with the blood of God's Son, 
not only by cleansing, but also by drinking. 

Blessed Jesus, who hast loved me so 
79 



The Lord's Table 

wonderfully, Thou wilt not deny me the 
request which I now state to Thee : unfold 
to ine the secret of Thy life in me which 
Thou bestowest upon me, when from above 
Thou still givest me to drink the blood 
shed for the forgiveness of my sins. Most 
precious Saviour, illumine and enlarge my 
faith, that I may now realize this truth : 
Jesus' own life is in my innermost being, 
the life of my life. He " through His own 
blood entered in once for all into the holy 
place, having obtained eternal redemp- 
tion " with the Father. Through Thine 
own blood come Thou to my heart to bring 
in this redemption there also. Lord Jesus, 
my heart thirsts for Thee. Come this day 
to me with that precious blood and let the 
full power of it be unveiled to me by Thy- 
self. Let it quench my thirst. Let it 
cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Let 
it bring me into harmony with the joy and 
praise of those who sing : " Unto Him 
that loveth us and loosed us from our sins 
by His blood, to Him be the glory and the 
dominion forever." Amen. 



80 



IV 
XLbe flew Covenant 

"And the cup in like manner after supper, 
saying, This cup is the new covenant in my 
blood." — Luke xxii. 20. 

The Lord's Supper is a covenant meal 
— the Feast of the New Covenant. It is 
of great importance to understand the 
New Covenant thoroughly. 

It is something quite different from the 
Old Covenant — infinitely better and more 
glorious. The Old Covenant which God 
made with Israel was indeed glorious, but 
yet not adapted for sinful man, because he 
could not fulfil it. God gave to His people 
His perfect law, with the glorious promises 
of His help, His guidance, His blessing, if 
they should continue in the observance of 
it. But man in his inner life was still 
under the power of sin : he was lacking in 
the strength requisite for abiding in the 
covenant of His God. 
81 



The Lord's Table 

God promised to make a New Covenant. 
(Read with care Jer. xxxi. 31-34, xxxii. 
38-42; Heb. viii. 6-14.) In this New 
Covenant, God promised to bestow the 
most complete forgiveness of sins and to 
take man altogether into His favor. He 
farther promised to communicate to him 
His law, not externally as written on 
tables, but inwardly and in his heart, so 
that he should have strength to fulfil its 
precepts. He was to give him a new heart 
and a new spirit — in truth, His own Holy 
Spirit. Man was not called on in the first 
instance to promise that he would walk in 
God's law. God rather took the initiative 
in promising that He would enable him to 
do so. " I will put My Spirit within you," 
said the Lord by Ezekiel (xxxvi. 27), 
" and cause you to walk in My statutes, and 
ye shall keep My judgments and do 
them." 

Of this New Covenant, Jesus is the Me- 
diator and Surety (Heb. xii. 22, viii. 6). 
As Surety, He stands pledged to us to 
secure that God will fulfil all His prom- 
ises. As Surety, He is no less pledged to 
God in our behalf that we shall keep God's 
82 



The Communion Sabbath 

commandments. Glorious covenant of 
grace, with its wonderful provision for all 
our needs. In the Lord Jesus, God saw it 
meet to establish this covenant, without 
fear that His rights would suffer any 
violation. God could rely upon His Son 
to see to it that His honor should be re- 
spected. And in Jesus I also may well 
dare to enter into this covenant, without 
fear that I shall not be able to fulfil it : I 
can rely upon Jesus to see to it that He 
will bring everything to completion for 
and in me. In the New Covenant, Jesus 
the Surety has not only wholly discharged 
the old debt, but also undertaken the re- 
sponsibility for whatever else may be still 
required in our case. 

In this New Covenant, I this day sur- 
render myself to Thee, my God. Thou 
wilt bind me to Thyself with Thy glorious 
promises. Thou bindest Thyself to forgive 
my sins, to love me as Thy child, to train, 
to sanctify, to bless me ; to give me light, 
and desire, and strength for abiding in 
Thy covenant and doing Thy will. And I 
am bound to Thee in Thy precious Son. 
Eternal God, grant that the Holy Spirit, 



The Lord's Table 

who is one of the promises of this New 
Covenant, may this day unfold to me what 
Thy love has destined for me in it. Wilt 
Thou make me to understand that Thou 
hast undertaken and promised to secure 
that I shall walk in Thy ways, and that 
Thou givest me Thy Son as the Surety of 
the Covenant to carry out all its details ? 
Then shall I take Thy Son and the Cove- 
nant sealed with His blood, with the 
blessed joy of knowing that He will be in 
me the fulfilling of the covenant, the ful- 
filling as well of Thy covenant promises as 
of my covenant obligations. 

Blessed Jesus, reach to me this day the 
blood of the covenant. Amen. 



84 



THnto "Remission of Sine 

" My blood, which is shed unto remission of 
sins." — Matt. xxvi. 28. 

Sin : at the Lord's Table, this word is 
not to be dispensed with. It is sin that 
gives us a right to Christ. It is as a 
Saviour from sin that Christ desires to 
have to do with us. It is as sinners that 
we sit down at the table. If I cannot al- 
ways come immediately to Christ and ap- 
propriate Him, I can always come on the 
ground of my sin. Sin is the handle by 
which I can take hold of Christ. I may 
not always be able actually to lay my hand 
on Christ and say : Christ is mine; but I 
can always say : Sin is mine. And w r hen 
I then hear the glad tidings that Christ 
died for sin, I obtain courage to say : Sin 
is mine, and Christ, who died for sin, died 
also for me. When I look upon my own 
righteousness, I have no courage : but 
85 



The Lord's Table 

when I first look on sin, I can make bold 
to say that Christ is mine. Sin: how 
sweet it is to me to hear that word from 
the mouth of Jesus at the table. 

And .what does my Saviour say about 
sin? He speaks of it only to give the 
assurance of the forgiveness of sin. That 
God no more remembers my sin and does 
not impute it to me, that He does not 
desire to look upon my sin and deal with 
me in deserved wrath, but meets me in 
love and complacency as one whose sin is 
taken away : that is what my Jesus secures 
for me, when He points me to His blood 
and gives it to me as my own. And that 
is what thou mayest believe and enjoy, 
my soul, when thou drinkest that blood. 
And when thou askest Him to make known 
to thee by His Holy Spirit the divine 
glory of this forgiveness as complete, 
effectual, entire, always valid and eternal, 
then shalt thou, too, be able to sing : 
" Blessed is the man whose transgression 
is forgiven." 

Then shall you also see how this for- 
giveness as a living seed includes in itself 
all other blessings. For to whom God 
86 



The Communion Sabbath 

forgives sin, him He also receives, him 
He loves, him He acknowledges as a child, 
and gives him the Holy Spirit with all His 
gifts. The forgiveness of sin is, as it 
were, the pledge of entrance into the whole 
riches of the grace of God. The soul that 
day by day really enjoys forgiveness in 
the Lord Jesus shall go hence in the joy 
and power of the Lord. 

what a blessed feast : to know myself 
to be one with Jesus as a ransomed soul> 
and, being in Him, to be able to look out 
upon my sin : this is true blessedness. 
Blessed it is, because there, while He points 
with His finger to the sin for which I must 
be so bitterly ashamed, I can hear this 
glorious word : " Forgiven." Blessed, 
because, for the confirmation of this for- 
giveness and the communication of all its 
blessing, I am there nourished by the very 
blood which was shed for remission of sins. 
Blessed, because in the joy of the forgive- 
ness and the enjoyment of that blood, I 
am anew linked with that Jesus who loves 
me so wonderfully. Yea, blessed, because 
I know that in place of sins He now gives 
me Himself to fill my empty heart, in 
87 



The Lord's Table 

order that it be adorned with the light and 
the beauty of His own life. Blessed feast, 
blessed drinking unto remission of sins ! 
Precious Saviour, I am naturally so 
afraid to look upon my sins, to acknowl- 
edge, to combat them. In the joy and the 
power of Thy forgiveness, I dread this no 
more. Now I can look upon them as a 
victor. Help me to love Thee much, as 
one to whom much has been forgiven. 
Amen. 



88 



VI 

Jfor /flbanE 

"My blood, which was shed for many." — 
Matt. xxvi. 28. 

Jesus has a large heart. At the Supper 
Table, He not only forgot Himself, to think 
of His own who were gathered there 
around Him, but His loving eye glanced 
forward to all who are redeemed by His 
blood. " For Many " : with this word He 
teaches His disciples to maintain fellow- 
ship, not merely with those with whom 
they sit at the table, but with the entire 
host of the redeemed — the multitude that 
no man can number. In the light of this 
icord we see Him breaking the bread and 
giving it to the disciples, and then again 
to the multitude after the day of Pentecost, 
and then yet again to others until the ever- 
widening circle extends to the spot where 
we now sit. This truth binds all celebra- 
89 



The Lord's Table 

tions of the Supper into one single com- 
munion in immediate contact with Him 
who first instituted it. It unites also the 
separate circles of Christ's disciples into 
one universal Church, and all distinction 
and all separation vanish in the joyful 
thought that every member shares equally 
in the love and the life of the one Head 
from whom also He receives the bread. It 
sets the farthest distant in a relation to 
the love of Jesus as intimate as those who 
at the first received the bread from His 
own hand. 

The observance of the Supper accord- 
ingly must renew our feeling of unity not 
only with the Head, but also with the 
Body of which we are members. The Sup- 
per must enlarge our heart, till it be as 
wide as the heart of Jesus. Next to love 
to the Lord Jesus must present love to the 
brethren fill our souls. Along with the 
word, " For you," which, as coming from 
His lips, is so precious to us, He desires us 
to couple and remember this other word, 
" For many." 

" For many: " some Christians are satis- 
fied when all goes well with their own lit- 
90 



The Communion Sabbath 

tie circle : they think of going to heaven 
only in company with those that belong to 
them. This ought not to be. The Sup- 
per must enlarge the heart in love and 
prayer for all that belong to Jesus, so as 
to make us rejoice with them or weep with 
them. Nor even at this point must we 
stop. The true disciple of Jesus thinks of 
all who may yet be in their sin, and do not 
know about the blood which was shed 
" for many." Every real experience of 
the power of the blood must introduce me 
more deeply into the feelings and disposi- 
tions in which it was shed, and will con- 
strain me to bring to the knowledge of it, 
the " many," for whom Christ poured it 
out. He that really drinks the blood 
which was shed " for many," and becomes 
inwardly partaker of the life and the love 
which was poured forth in that blood — 
how shall he find all selfishness and all 
narrow-niindedness vanishing away, and 
have his heart enlarged to embrace the 
wide compass of Jesus' heart and Jesus' 
word, when He said : " My blood, shed for 
many." 

Precious Saviour, grant unto me Thy 
91 



The Lord's Table 

Spirit, that the same mind which is in 
Thee may be also in me. Cause me to 
understand how even of Thy holy Supper 
thou canst say : " Compel them to come 
in, that My house may be full." And may 
all Thy people be more filled with the 
thought : " Still there is room." Lord 
Jesus, who Thyself art love, shed abroad 
Thy love in our hearts by Thy Holy 
Spirit. Amen. 



92 



VII 

JFor J2ou 

"My body, which is given for yon. . . . My 
blood, which is shed for you." — Luke xxii. 
19, 20. 

It is an old saying : The whole secret of 
true blessedness lies in one word, the little 
word " Me." All knowledge of the truth, 
and all acquaintance with the gospel, are 
of no avail without the personal appropria- 
tion of that short phrase, For me. And 
that word of man has, on the other hand, 
its foundation in the word of Jesus, " For 
you." 

So was it at the Lord's Table. In speak- 
ing of His body and blood, the Saviour ad- 
dressed His disciples, and said to them : 
Given for you ; shed for you. 

How would the disciples in a later day 

feel themselves strengthened by that word. 

How could Peter in his deep fall, and 

Thomas in his grievous unbelief, and each 

93 



The Lord's Table 

of the others, fail to encourage themselves 
by remembering this : He spoke to me so 
cordially, just indeed as if it was meant 
for me alone, when He said : " Given for 
you." 

It is in this word that for me also the 
richest blessing of the Lord's Supper is 
wrapt up. For, not less than to the first 
disciples, does the Saviour desire to say to 
every one of His guests : Given for you. 
By His Hoty Spirit, He is as near to us as 
to them : He can make us feel the power 
of His eye and His voice. Not only by 
reaching the bread to each one separately, 
but much more by the heavenly operation 
of His Holy Spirit, will Jesus address 
each one, saying : Given for you. 

Affecting word : how must it humble 
and subdue my heart. There sits the Son 
of God in His gloiy. There I bow myself 
in the dust, I who have been an enemy 
and ungodly, who am still all too much 
unfaithful and a transgressor. And, be- 
hold, with an eye in which holy earnest- 
ness is mingled with tender love, He 
points me to His broken body and shed 
blood, and says to me : For you, for you. 
94 



The Communion Sabbath 

Lord, it is enough : for that precious 
word lny soul thanks Thee. That word I 
will lay hold of, and find in it confidence to 
return the answer ; Yes, for me, for me ; 
u for many," but yet also for me. The 
love, and the redemption, and the life, and 
the gloiy of which that blood speaks, I 
dare say of all : For me, for me. 

Precious Jesus, my soul praises Thee 
for that loving word : For you. Hear my 
supplication, and let Thy Spirit at Thy 
table address it to me very powerful^. 
strengthen me for a very confident and joy- 
ful appropriation of all that Thou sayest, 
and when my hand takes the bread, and I 
drink the wine, grant me with a very large 
and clear faith to sa}^ : For me, for me. 
Blessed Lord, I shall wait in silence for 
Th} r Spirit ; for to have that word from 
Thee is to me the secret of my blessing at 
the table. And Thou will give it to me. 
Amen. 



95 



VIII 

©ne ffioby 

" We who are many are one body : for we all 
partake of the one bread." " A new command- 
ment I give unto you, that ye love one another; 
even as I have loved you, that ye also love one 
another. By this shall all men know that ye are 
My disciples, if ye have love one to another." — 1 
Cor. x. 17 ; John xiii. 34, 35. 

Union with the Lord Jesus, the Head, 
involves at the same time mutual union 
with the members of the body. He that 
really eats the body of Jesus and drinks 
His blood, is incorporated with His body, 
and stands thenceforth in the closest re- 
lationship to the whole body, with all its 
members. We have fellowship, not only 
in His body which He gave up to death, 
but especially in His body which He 
brought again from the dead — that is, the 
Church. " We are one body ; for we all 
partake of the one bread." 
98 . 



The Communion Sabbath 

So deep and wonderful was this union 
of His believing disciples at the table of 
the New Covenant, so entirely new the 
life of the Spirit by which they were to be 
gathered together into one in Him as His 
body, that the Lord spoke of the love 
which must animate them as a new com- 
mandment. In the New Covenant there 
was present a new life, and thus also a new 
love. " By this shall all men know that 
ye are My disciples, if ye have love one 
to another." 

This thought is too much forgotten at 
the Lord's Table, and that to the great loss 
of the Church. How often have guests at 
Jesus 7 Table sat next one another for years 
in concession without knowing or loving 
one another, without holding fellowship 
with one another, or helping one another. 
Many a one has sought after closer connec- 
tion with the Lord and not found it, be- 
cause they would have the Head alone 
without the body. Many a blessing has 
been missed and lost at the Supper, be- 
cause the unity of the body was never 
considered. Yes : would that were it 
thoroughly understood ; Jesus must be 
97 



The Lord's Table 

loved, and honored, and served, and known 
in His members. As by the circulation of 
the blood every member of our body is 
kept unceasingly in the most vital connec- 
tion with the others, so the body of Christ 
can increase and become strong only when, 
in the loving interchange of the fellowship 
of the Spirit and of love, the life of the 
Head can flow unhindered from member to 
member. The observance of the Supper 
must be regarded as the conclusion of an 
alliance, not only with the Lord, but with 
all that sit at the table, to the effect that 
we shall live for one another. Not only 
must love to Him whose bread I eat be 
the object of desire, and promise, and 
prayer, but also His love to all who eat 
that bread along with me there. 

Blessed Lord, grant unto me to feel 
this truth aright. As really as in this 
bread which Thou dost impart to me, I 
maintain fellowship with Thee, I maintain 
it also with those with whom I share the 
bread at the table. As I receive Thee, so 
do I receive them. As I desire to con- 
fess, and love, and serve Thee, so would I 
also them. As I would be wholly one 
98 



The Communion Sabbath 

with Thee, so would I also with them. 
Very humbly do I acknowledge before 
Thee the sins of my old nature — selfish- 
ness, lovelessness, envy, wrath, indifference 
about others. Boldly and trustfully I en- 
treat Thee for the love, the gentleness, the 
mercy, that are in Thee, to be shed abroad 
also in me. Jesus, who givest Thyself 
to me, work in me and with me in all who 
eat of this one bread with me, Thine own 
heavenly love. Amen. 



IX 
Gbe Cup of MceeirxQ 

"The cnp of blessing which we bless." l — 1 
Cor. x. 16. 

The Lord's Supper is properly a feast 
of thanksgiving. " When He had given 
thanks, He brake the bread." " In like 
manner He took the cup, and, when He 
had given thanks, He gave it to them." 
And after partaking of the Supper, it was 
" when they had sung an hymn," that they 
went out to the Mount of Olives. From 
Jewish writers, we also learn that the third 
cup of the Paschal feast, which was sancti- 
fied as the cup of the New Covenant, bore 
the name of the Cup of Thanksgiving, and 
that it was while it was being drunk that 
Psalms cxvi.-cxviii. were sung. 

The Supper is a solemnity of redemp- 

1 The Dutch version has : " The cup of thanks- 
giving which we bless with thanksgiving." — Tr. 
100 



The Communion Sabbath 

tion, the feast of the redeemed, a joyful 
repast at which God Himself says to us : 
" Let us eat and be merry " ; a thanksgiv- 
ing banquet at which is heard a prelude of 
the song of the Lamb. Let me ask grace 
to sit down joyfully and thankfully. 

So shall I honor God. " He that offer- 
eth praise glorifieth Me." God is too little 
honored by His people. A joyful, thankful 
Christian shows that God can make those 
that serve Him truly happy. He stirs up 
others to praise God along with him. 

So shall I enjoy the Supper aright. 
Sadness cannot eat ; a joyful heart enjoys 
food. To be thankful for what I have re- 
ceived and for what my Lord has prepared, 
is the surest way to receive more. 

So shall I be strengthened for conflict 
and for victory. " Thanks be to God, who 
always causeth us to triumph in Christ." 
" Thanks be to God, who giveth us the 
victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
If my Saviour went singing from the 
Lord's Table to the conflict in Gethsemane, 
may I, in the joy of His redemption, fol- 
low Him with thanksgiving into every 
conflict to which He calls me. 
101 



The Lord's Table 

So shall the Spirit of heaven dwell in 
my heart. The nearer to the throne of 
God the more thanksgiving. This I see 
in the Revelation. In heaven they praise 
God day and night : a Lord's Supper per- 
vaded by the spirit of thanksgiving is a 
foretaste of it. 

And thou hast good cause to be thank- 
ful, O my soul. Look at Jesus, at His 
blood, at His redemption, at His love, at 
His blessed fellowship ; and let all that is 
within thee praise Him. Drink, yea, drink 
abundantly, of the cup of thanksgiving, 
which we drink, giving thanks. 

Blessed Lord, my Redeemer and my 
Friend, humbly I pray Thee: let my 
mouth be filled with Thy praise, all the day 
with Thy glory. Thou art in very truth 
our strength and song, for Thou hast be- 
come our salvation. Lord, teach me this 
clay to take and drink the cup with thanks- 
giving, and to be joyful before Thy face. 
For this end, Thou hast only to unveil 
Thyself to me in the love that streams from 
Thy countenance, and the glorious re- 
demption which Thou bringest, and my 
soul shall be suffused with joy. Is it not 
102 



The Communion Sabbath 

just for this end that thou didst institute 
the Supper? Precious Saviour, with 
thanksgiving shall I take the cup into nay 
hand, in the blessed assurance that Thou 
wilt fill me with Thy love, my heart with 
Thy joy, my mouth with Thy praise. 
Praise the Lord, my soul, who satisfiest 
thy mouth with good things. Amen. 



103 



X 

GUI 1be Come 

"Ye proclaim the Lord's death till He come." 
"I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of 
this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink 
it new with you in My Father's kingdom." "I 
appoint unto you a kingdom, even as My Father 
appointed unto Me, that ye may eat and drink at 
My table in My kingdom." — 1 Coe. xi. 26 ; MATT, 
xx vi. 29; Luke xxii. 29, 30. 

At the Supper, Jesus points us not only- 
backward, but also forward. From the 
suffering He points to the glory ; out of 
the depths He calls to the heights. Be- 
cause the Supper is the remembrance, the 
communion of Jesus, the living Saviour, 
it sets Him before us in all that He was, 
and is, and shall be. It is only in the 
future that we can expect to have the full 
realization of what is begun at the Lord's 
Supper. The Supper begins under the 
Cross with the reconciliation of the world ; 
104 



The Communion Sabbath 

it is completed before the throne of glory 
in the new birth of the world. It is on 
this account that faith, according as it has 
experience of the power of the heavenly 
food, is irresistibly drawn on to the future. 
The true Christian has still to wait for his 
inheritance. " Till He come " is his watch- 
word at every observance of the Supper. 
At the table his Lord speaks of drinking 
the fruit of the vine anew in the kingdom 
of the Father, and of eating and drinking 
at His table in His kingdom. The Supper, 
which is itself the fulfilment of the shadow 
of the Paschal Feast, is again in its turn 
the shadow of coming blessings, the pledge 
of the time when they shall cry : " Blessed 
are they that are called to the marriage 
Supper of the Lamb." 

What a prospect is this. There sin is 
for ever put away. There the whole 
Church is eternally united without fault 
or division. There the whole creation 
shares in the liberty of the glory of the 
children of God. There the eye sees the 
King in His beauty ; and we shall be like 
Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 

Blessed thought : it shall not always be 
105 



The Lord's Table 

as it is now. The blessings of the Supper 
are mere droppings. Jesus Himself comes 
once for all. Then shall I sit down with 
Him. Yes, He comes: and I shall see 
Him and know Him, and He shall see me 
and know me. And when I fall at His 
feet He will call me by my name and let 
me rest on His breast, and take me to be 
one with Him inseparably and forever. 



106 



a prater of Gbanfc00tvin0 to tbe 1bol£ 
{Trinity 

(For the Communion Sabbath Evening) 

Triune God, once again on this blessed 
feast day I come to pour out my full heart 
before Thee. I will lift up my soul to 
Thee in prayer and supplication, and will 
enjoy anew what Thou hast bestowed upon 
me, while I praise Thee for it. 

Receive my thanks, God and Father of 
the Lord Jesus, for the wonderful love 
Thou hast showed to me. That Thou hast 
prepared for me in Thine heart a place 
next Thine only-begotten Son, that Thou 
hast seen meet to honor me with the name 
and the rights of a child, that Thou hast 
been pleased to seal to me this privilege 
all this day by imparting to me the chil- 
dren's bread : for this my soul desires to 
praise Thee. my Father, I will place 
myself anew before Thee as Thy child, to 
delight myself in Thee, to dedicate myself 
107 



The Lord's Table 

to Thee as a living sacrifice : my 
Father, to live wholly for Thee, to honor 
Thee the whole day with a heart full of 
joy in Thyself, to keep myself ever burn- 
ing on the altar as a thank offering by 
fire : how my heart longs after this. 
Father, receive the praise, the thanks, the 
love of the child whom Thou hast this day 
blessed, and grant me grace to walk from 
day to day with this song in my heart : 
" Thanks be to God for His unspeakable 
gift." 

And what shall I say unto Thee, my 
Jesus, Son of the Father, for what I have 
this day again received from Thee. how 
I praise Thee for the love wherewith Thou 
hast loved me. Precious Saviour, Thou 
hast given Thyself unto me to be mine for- 
ever. The bond that unites Thee to me is 
not broken in eternity ; for the bond is 
Thy love, which is stronger than death. 
Yea, the bond which Thy love has formed 
is Thine own Divine life. The life that is 
in Thee, Thou hast given to be in me : 
Thou hast made me one with Thyself: I 
am Thy flesh and bone. Son of God, my 
soul cannot conceive it : I can only bow in 
108 



The Communion Sabbath 

abasement, and surrender myself anew to 
Thee. my Lord, Thou desirest to have 
me wholly : here am I to be wholly taken 
possession of by Thee, and to be filled 
with the Spirit whom Thou hast given. 

And how shall I praise Thee, Spirit 
of the Father and the Son, for what Thou 
art to me again this day. By Thee I pos- 
sess and enjoy the Father and the Son. 
By Thee I taste the powers of the heav- 
enly life. Every blessing which I receive 
from the Father and the Son I have 
through Thee. Thou workest in me by 
Thy Divine power all that I need in the 
spiritual life. What I have this day re- 
ceived and enjoyed, that Thou hast 
wrought in me ; that Thou wilt preserve 
and strengthen, till I become fully par- 
taker of the love of the Father and the 
grace of the Son. Holy Spirit of God, 
my soul praises Thee. How long-suffering 
and patient hast Thou been in spite of all 
my sluggishness and folly. With the 
Father and the Son I honor Thee, I love 
Thee, I delight in Thee and in Thy fellow- 
ship. 

Triune God of the Covenant, receive 
109 



The Lord's Table 

this renewed dedication of myself to Thee. 
Thou art all my salvation, my everlasting 
portion. confirm in the most effectual 
way the sealing of Thy grace bestowed 
upon me this day, and let me now as Thy 
sworn ally go hence in the might of the 
Lord and making mention of Thy right- 
eousness, yea, Thine alone. Amen. 



110 



PART III 

Gbe Week after tbe Supper 



in 



Too soon we rise : the symbols disappear . 

The feast, though not the love, is past and gone ; 
The bread and wine remove, but Thou art here, 

Nearer than ever, still my Shield and Sun. 

I have no help but Thine : nor do I need 
Another arm save Thine to lean upon ; 

It is enough, my Lord, enough indeed ; 
My strength is in Thy might, Thy might alone. 

Mine is the sin, but Thine the righteousness ; 

Mine is the guilt, but Thine the cleansing blood ; 
Here is my robe, my refuge and my peace — 

Thy blood, Thy righteousness, O Lord my God. 

Feast after feast thus comes and passes by, 
Yet, passing, points to the glad feast above, 

Giving sweet foretaste of the festal joy, 
The Lamb's great bridal feast of bliss and love. 

HOEATIUS BONAB. 



112 



MONDAY MORNING 
Gbe power of tbe jf ooD 

"My flesh is meat indeed and My blood is 
drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh and 
drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in 
Him." — John vi. 55. 

Life must be fed with life. In corn the 
life of nature is hid, and we enjoy the 
power of that life in bread. As with the 
body, so is it with the spirit. The body is 
fed by the visible, the changeable life : the 
spirit must be fed with the invisible, un- 
changeable life of heaven. 

It was to bring to us this heavenly life 
that the Son of God descended to earth. It 
was to make this life accessible to us that 
He died like the seed corn in the earth, 
that His body was broken like the bread 
grain. It is to communicate this life to 
us and to make it our own, that He gives 
Himself to us in the Supper. 

By His death Jesus took away the cause 
113 



The Lord's Table 

of our everlasting hunger and sorrow, 
namely, sin. The spirit of man, his un- 
dying part, can live only by God, " who 
only hath immortality." Sin separated 
man from God, and an eternal hunger and 
an eternal thirst of death were now his 
portion. He lost God, and nothing in the 
world can satisfy his infinite cravings. 
Then comes Jesus. He takes sin away 
and brings it to nought in His body, and 
gives us that body to eat and to do away 
with sin in us. Since in Him dwells the 
fullness of the Godhead bodily, whenever 
I receive and enjoy Him, not only have I 
the forgiveness of sins, but the life of God, 
the life of heaven is implanted within me. 
Wonderful grace : may I understand it 
aright. The man who uses the Lord's 
Supper aright is one that is distinguished 
from other men by the fact that he has 
partaken of the Bread of Life. He has 
really received Jesus Christ into his inner- 
most being, and with Him the powers of 
the eternal life, as this is the life of heaven. 
It is to bring His own eternal life near to 
us, that God has given His Son as the food 
of the soul. 

114 



The Week after the Supper 

Glorious food : wonderful heavenly 
bread : what a heavenly life it imparts to 
us. Love to God, blessed rest, real holi- 
ness, inward power, all that characterizes 
the life that is enjoyed in heaven, — all 
that shall be in me the fruit of this Bread 
of Life. 

Let me remember and believe the won- 
derful virtue of the food with which I am 
fed. Let me have strong expectations 
that this food shall work out its divine en- 
ergy in me. Let me walk joyfully and 
full of courage, knowing that I can do all 
things through Christ that strengtheneth 
me. For He gives me strength. He 
dwells in me. He is my food. 

PRAYER. 

how wonderful is Thy grace, my 
precious Lord, that Thou Thyself hast be- 
come my food, which abides in me, gives 
me strength, and upholds and increases the 
life that is in me. 

Lord, I have but one boon to crave of 

Thee this morning. It is this : that Thou 

wouldst increase my faith, that I may 

know aright what Thou art prepared to be 

115 



The Lord's Table 

to me. I feel that this is especially to be 
blamed as my weakness that I do not un- 
derstand what Thou art willing to be and 
to do for me. 

Precious Lord, make me to know this. 
Strengthen my faith to say continually: 
Jesus abides in me, Jesus is my food : fed 
with such nourishment, my life shall be 
powerful for the glorifying of God. 
Strengthen my faith to appropriate Thee 
continually for all my needs. Thou art 
the Provision in every necessity, the satis- 
faction of every desire. Strengthen my 
faith, Lord, to think no more of my weak- 
ness but of Thine own power : for Thou, 
my Lord, Thou art always my food, my 
power of life. And strengthen my faith 
especially to receive this my heavenly food 
daily as its nourishment, to open my 
mouth wide every day, in order that it 
may be filled with Thee, with Thyself. 

Lord Jesus, my food, which abides in 
me, Thou wilt surely do this for me. Amen. 



116 



TUESDAY MORNING 
Sanctitfcatton 

" Sin no more." — John v. 14, viii. 11. 

Thus Jesus spake to the sick man whom 
He had healed at the pool of Bethesda. 
Thus He spake also to the woman whom 
He liberated from the hand of her perse- 
cutors. Thus He speaks to every soul to 
which He has shown mercy, whose sick- 
ness He has healed, and whose life He has 
redeemed from destruction. Thus He 
speaks to everyone who goes forth from 
the blessed feast of the Supper : " Go 
hence : sin no more." 

It was in order to save from sin that 
God sent His Son, that Jesus gave His life 
and His blood, that the Spirit came down 
from heaven. The Redeemer cannot suf- 
fer a ransomed soul to go from the table of 
the covenant, without hearing anew this 
glorious word : " Henceforth — let there be 
117 



The Lord's Table 

In the presence of the 
Cross and what thy sin cost Him, in view 
of His love and all the blessings which 
He has bestowed upon } t ou, this word 
comes with divine power : " Go hence : sin 
no more." 

" But, Lord, must I not always sin ? In 
me dwelleth no good thing. I thought 
that the Christian continues to sin to the 
end." 

" And have I not redeemed thee from 
the power of sin? Does not My Spirit 
dwell in you ? Am not I Myself your 
sanctification ? " 

" But, Lord, can anyone, then, in this 
life be entirely holy ? " 

" The sinful nature you shall continue 
to have, but its workings can be overcome. 
You may become more holy every day. I 
am prepared to do for you above all that 
you dare ask or think." 

" my beloved Lord, I would so very 
fain be holy. Thou knowest how sin 
grieves me, how I pant after holiness. 0, 
pray, teach me how I can be holy." 

" Soul, I am thy sanctification. Abide 
in Me and thou shalt be holy. Entrust 
118 



The Week after the Supper 

tb} T self to Me : I shall keep you holy. Be- 
lieve in Me, that I shall fulfil My word. 
Let My word, My will, My mind, keep thy 
thoughts, thy heart occupied. Let Me 
dwell in thine heart — thy heart be full of 
Me : that will keep sin outside." 

" Lord, may it only be so in my case." 
11 Soul, fall down before Me, bring thy- 
self to Me in sacrifice. Be not faithless, 
but believing. Look not upon thy weak- 
ness, or upon all that which is dead. Give 
Me the honor of being strong in faith, and 
confident that what I have promised, I am 
mighty and faithful to do, and it shall be 
to thee according to thy faith." 

" Lord, I come. I fall down before Thee 
to dedicate myself now as a sacrifice to 
Thee." 

PRAYER. 

{of a soul that surrenders itself to the Lord to be puri- 
fied from every sin) 

Blessed Lord, Thou art my sanctifica- 

tion. From Thee I have not only the 

command, but in Thee the power to go 

hence and to sin no more. Lord, now I 

119 



The Lord's Table 

give myself anew to Thee, and declare my- 
self ready to be purified from every sin. 

Of every known sin, of which I am 
already convinced, I do this very moment 
make renunciation. However deeply it 
may be rooted, however little I feel power 
to overcome it, in Thy name, my blessed 
Redeemer, I hereby renounce it. I sur- 
render myself to Thee to combat and over- 
come it in Thy strength. Lord, here am 
I, in order that Thou may est cleanse me 
from all unrighteousness. Lord, this is 
my prayer : whatever it may cost me, 
through whatever pain or humiliation it 
may be achieved, take my sin from me. 
Lord, spare no single sin : make me holy. 

And no less for the sin in me that is 
still unknown to myself, — sin which Th}^ 
people or the world or Thou Thyself may- 
est see in me, but which my own self-love 
has not yet been willing to acknowledge, I 
place myself in Thy hands. Lord, make 
it known to me : use friend or foe to dis- 
cover it, but, pray, let not my sin continue 
longer hid from me. I would fain know it, 
in order that I may bring it to Thee, and 
that Thou mayest cleanse me from it. 
120 



The Week after the Supper 

And strengthen my faith, precious Sav- 
iour, that I may very joyfully reckon on 
Thee to show Thyself to me as my sancti- 
fication. Thou art my Surety, who has 
not only atoned for the old guilt, but art 
also in a position to secure that every day 
and every moment the requirements of 
God's law may be fulfilled by me. Lord, 
cause me to believe this, and by a life of 
unceasing trust to experience how con- 
stantly Thou wilt keep and cleanse the 
soul. Then shall I go away from every 
observance of the Supper, to show anew 
that thou art my daily bread, and my daily 
strength : that Thy life is the life of my 
life, and that Thou hearest my prayer : 

11 Jesus, come and live in me 
That I may ever holy be." 

Lord, here am I now, surrendered to 
Thee, to be keat and sanctified in Thee. 
On Thy word, I confidently cast myself. 
Amen. 



121 



WEDNESDAY MORNING 

©beDience 

"Jesus said: My meat is to do the will of 
Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." — 
John iv. 34. 

" I have meat to eat that ye know not 
of." Jesus had a hidden manna that He 
received from the Father, and that was 
the secret of His wonderful power. The 
nutriment of His life He received from 
God in heaven. No one could have dis- 
covered what it was ; but when He tells it 
to us, it appears so simple that many a one 
gets puzzled over it. " My meat is to do 
the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish 
His work." 

Food is the meeting of needy satisfaction. 
The hunger of Jesus, the yearning of 
Jesus, extended only to one thing: to 
please God. Without that He could not 
rest ; in that one thing, He had all He re- 
122 



The Week after the Supper 

quired. And when He found the will of 
God, He did it, and thereby at once fed 
His soul with its appropriate food, and was 
satisfied. 

Food involves appropriation, the exer- 
cise of fellowship. The weak soul, who 
truely surrenders himself to do the will 
of God, becomes thereby wonderfully 
strengthened. Obedience to God, instead 
of exhausting the energies, only renews 
them. The doing of God's will was the 
food that Jesus had. 

Food involves quickening and joy. Eat- 
ing is not only necessary as medicine for 
strength, but is also in itself something 
that is acceptable, and imparts pleasure. 
To observe a feast in the spirit is itself 
equivalent to food. Obedience to the will 
of God was Jesus' highest joy. 

As One who did the will of God, Jesus 
became our Saviour (Heb. x. 9, 10). He 
therefore that trusts in Him, receives Him 
as the fulfiller of the will of God, and 
with Him receives also the will of God as 
his life. 

Now, then, Jesus has become my meat ; 
and He Himself dwells in me as the power 
123 



The Lord's Table 

of my life. And now I know the means 
by which this life must be fed and strength- 
ened within me. The doing of God's will 
is my meat. The doing of God's will was 
for Jesus the bread of heaven ; and since I 
have now received Jesus Himself as my 
heavenly bread, He teaches me to eat what 
He Himself ate : He teaches me to do the 
will of God. That is the meat of my soul. 
I received the same Spirit that was in 
Him, and it became truth for me, as for 
Him. My meat, the highest satisfaction 
of mj 7 soul, fellowship with God, renewal 
of my energies, an unbroken feast of joy, 
is " to do the will of Him that sent me, and 
to finish His work." Thus the feast of 
the Supper is prolonged in the continued 
life of obedience to the will of God. 

PRAYER. 

Eternal God, I thank Thee that in Thy 
Son Thou hast enabled us here on earth to 
contemplate the glorious life of heaven. I 
thank Thee for the sight of Him who, in 
the execution of Thy will found His meat, 
His life. Lord God, in the Supper Thou 
hast given me this Son in order that His 
12 i 



The Week after the Supper 

life may become my life, and His Spirit 
my spirit. Lord, make me so thoroughly 
one with this Jesus, that I also, like Him, 
shall find my meat in the will of the 
Father. 

Lord Jesus, it is a continued feast that 
Thou hast prepared for me. Every day I 
also may do the will of my Father. May 
this obedience be to me the continuation 
of the banquet of the Supper. Make my 
soul crave with an insatiable hunger to 
know the will of God in everything. Do 
Thou Thyself with Thy Divine power ful- 
fil in me all obedience, and let my inner 
life thereby become all the stronger and 
more joyful. 

Lord, I desire to confess before Thee 
how little I still have of true spiritual in- 
sight into the will of God. Lord, give me 
of Thy Spirit, in order that I may be 
transformed by the renewing of my mind, 
and so prove what is that good and perfect 
and acceptable will of God. Bring me to 
that blessed frame of mind in which, like 
Thee, my Lord, I shall refuse to do any- 
thing, unless I know that it is the will 
of the Father. Strengthen my faith, that 
125 



The Lord's Table 

by the Spirit Thou mayest make me to un- 
derstand this will more fully, and in order 
that I may stand perfect and complete in 
all the will of God. 

0, my Saviour, how shall my soul then 
be satisfied and praise Thee when all that 
I do is only obedience to the prayer : " Our 
Father, Thy will be done, as in heaven so 
on earth." 

Lord, give me always this food. Amen. 



126 



THURSDAY MORNING 

" If any will not work, neither let him eat." — 
2 Thess. iii. 10. 

That is true of the poor sluggard : lie 
has nothing to eat. It is also true of the 
hireling : he cannot expect that his master 
will give him food to eat if he does not do 
his work. It is also true of the rich slug- 
gard : although he has abundance, if he 
does not work he lacks the hunger that 
makes food acceptable. 

And it is no less true, on the other hand, 
of spiritual food. The Kingdom of God 
is not meat and drink : there least of all 
may the bread of idleness be eaten. Israel 
had to eat the Passover, with loin girt, 
sandals on the feet, and staff in hand, ready 
to undertake the journey to Canaan in the 
strength of the food enjoyed. 

Now, may not this fact discover to us 
127 



The Lord's Table 

the reason why, for many, the blessing im- 
parted at the Supper is not greater than 
it is ? They desire to partake of it in or- 
der to have an enjoyable festal hour, to be 
satisfied with blessed pleasures and glo- 
rious experiences. But they do not reflect 
that the Lord has prepared food for His 
children that they m&y be strengthened to 
go and work in His vineyard. They do 
not work for their Lord : they do not know 
what they ought to do : they do not con- 
sider the matter : and thus they have often 
to complain of darkness and loss of bless- 
ing at the Lord's Supper. 

" If any will not work, neither let him 
eat " : " If any will work, let him eat." 

Alike in nature and in grace there is 
one law. He that desires to eat for the 
sake only of getting the food and for the 
satisfaction of his appetite, shall speedily 
lose the enjoyment of the food. He that 
eats to become strong and to work, shall 
find the food always accompanied with 
relish and imparting strength. 

Christian, once again you have eaten : 
now is the time for work. Work the work 
of your Lord : live and work for the in- 
128 



The Week after the Supper 

terests of His kingdom, and He will see 
to it that you have jour food, and that the 
food will prove to you a source of relish 
and blessing. As it is in the service of an 
earthly parent, so is it in that of the 
Heavenly Father : the best preparation for 
the Lord's Supper is to have done faithful- 
ly the will of the Father, and to have fin- 
ished His work. It was when Abraham 
returned from the campaign for the deliver- 
ance of Lot that Melchisedek, the priest of 
the Most High God, set before him bread 
and wine. " To him that overcometh," 
says Jesus — to him that works and strives 
and overcomes — " will I give to eat of the 
hidden manna." 

PRAYER. 

Holy Lord, my Redeemer and my 
Friend, it is my desire to work for Thee. 
I know that Thou hast given Thyself for 
us for this end, that Thou mightest have 
us for Thyself a peculiar people, zealous 
of good works. I know that there is no 
blessedness save in doing the will of the 
Father and finishing the work He has 
given me. Lord, I come to Thee, in the 
129 



The Lord's Table 

joy and courage and power that the food 
which Thou Thyself hast prepared as the 
nutriment of my soul imparts, to ask of 
Thee my work. 

I believe, Lord, that there is work for 
me, and that Thou wilt point out that 
work to me. Often have I desired to work 
for Thee according to my own feelings, 
and I have failed to win success. Lord 
Jesus, do Thou point out to me the work 
that I must do. Thou art my food and 
my strength. Thou art also my light and 
my leader. Let Thy Spirit so dwell in me 
that I shall be able to discern His voice, 
and, stimulated by Him, may carry out 
my work for souls. 

Lord, I have eaten the bread of heaven : 
I will live to do the work of heaven. 
Heavenly food brings heavenly strength, 
and heavenly strength brings heavenly 
work. Lord, make me to be Thy fellow- 
laborer, and teach me, like Thyself, to give 
my life to the work of the Kingdom of 
Heaven. Let my greatest joy be like that 
which prevails in heaven over the sinner 
that repenteth. 

That work will cause me to feel the need 
130 



The Week after the Supper 

of Thy divine power. That work will pre- 
pare me also to enjoy Thy food aright. 
That work will make every observance of 
the Supper more glorious for me, as a still 
deeper exercise of communion with Thee. 
So be it, my Lord. Amen. 



131 



FRIDAY MORNING 
JFellowsbip witb Sesus 

" And lo, I am with you alway (all the days), 
even unto the end of the world." — Matt, xxviii. 
20 

" For you " : that was one of the words 
of Jesus at the table. 

" With you " : this is no less His prom- 
ise, when you go away from the table. 
As real and complete and certain as His 
suretyship was, when He bore sin and 
gave His life for you, so real and certain 
is the fellowship which He holds out to 
you when He says, " I am with you all the 
days." If the "for you" was in every 
respect undivided and all sufficient, He 
means the " with you " to be in every re- 
spect just as undivided and inseparable. 

And the one is, like the other, a word of 
faith: a word that unfolds itself only to 
faith. " For you " was in the first instance 
133 






The Week after the Supper 

a truth that you found it impossible to 
receive. But the Spirit of God brought 
you up to the point of reception, and you 
were enabled to say, " Yes : Jesus for me 
— in my place : it is all finished for me." 
And this is now the sure and deep confi- 
dence of your soul. Even thus shall it be 
with this other word, " ivith you." Too 
often it appears as if it were not true, as 
if it could not possibly be true. At other 
times you could not live long if you felt 
yourself to be so sinful and miserable as 
you are. And yet it is true that Jesus is 
with you. Only you do not know it, } r ou 
do not enjoy it, because you do not believe 
it. But as soon as you learn to rely, not 
upon your own feeling or on your own ex- 
perience, but on what He has promised, 
and to direct your expectations according 
to faith in that which He hath said, namely, 
that He will be with you, it will become 
your blessedness. The " with you " is just 
as certain and complete as the " for you." 
" I am with you." Jesus Himself abides 
with His own : the certainty of His pres- 
ence and love, which will not abandon us. 
He, the Living, the Loving, the Almighty 
133 



The Lord's Table 

One : He Himself is with us, and in a 
position to make Himself known to us. 

" With you all the days " : not only on 
the day of the Supper ; not only on the 
festal days of life ; but all the days, with- 
out one single exception. And thus, also, 
all the day. Whether I think of it or not, 
there He is the whole da}^ — near me, with 
me. Not on my own faithfulness, but in 
that faithfulness of Thine which awakens 
my confidence and bestows on me Thine 
own nearness, I have the assurance of an 
unbroken fellowship with Thee, my be- 
loved Lord, 

PRAYER. 

Blessed Saviour, receive my thanks also 
for this word, " with you." And teach me, 
Lord, to make it my own in faith. For 
this end I will during these moments set 
myself in silence before Thee, and will 
wait upon Thee. Lord, speak Thyself to 
me these words : u I am with you all the 
days." 

Lord, what a source of joy and strength 
shall it prove to me when I know that as 
Thou art unchangeable, so also is Thy 
134 



The Week after the Supper 

presence with me unchangeable. As little 
as Thou wilt for a single moment leave 
the right hand of the Father in heaven, 
wilt Thou leave Thy brother upon the 
earth : Thou abidest at my right hand. 
Thou hast said it, and therefore I know 
that it is true : " I will never leave y ou 
nor forsake you : I am with you all the 
days." Precious Saviour, let Thy voice 
penetrate into the deepest recesses of my 
heart, and let my life this day, the whole 
day, and every day, be in Thy presence — 
the presence of Him who says, " I am 
with you." 

Alas, Lord, what have I not lost by not 
believing that word! And how have I 
grieved and dishonored Thee. Thou wast 
with me ; Thy voice of love said without 
ceasing, " I am with you " ; and yet 
through my proneness to unbelief, I heard 
it not. Often did I pray and beseech Thee 
that I might have Thee, and yet at the 
same time I practically despised Thee by 
not believing Thy word. my Saviour, 
let it no longer be so. Strengthen my 
faith, and as Thou has taught me to rely 
upon the word of complete atonement, 
135 



The Lord's Table 

"for you," let the word of complete fel- 
lowship, " WITH YOU ALL THE DAYS," be- 
come my joy and my strength. Yea, cause 
me to understand that as the " for you " 
makes a complete provision for all the sins 
of the past, so the " with you " makes a 
provision equally complete for all the 
cares and sins of the future. 

Yes, Lord, in Thy strength it shall be 
so. I will trust and not be afraid. What- 
ever or of whatever kind the days may be 
that await me, Thy word, " with you all 
the days" shall be sufficient for me. In 
Thy nearness, in fellowship with Thee, or 
rather in Thy fellowship with me, my life 
shall become a foretaste of the consumma- 
tion when I shall say : " And lo, Lord, 
I am with Thee for all eternity I " Amen. 



136 



SATURDAY MORNING 
Cbe 3EnD 

41 The Lord will perfect that which coDcerneth 
me." "Being confident of this very thing, that 
He which began a good work in you will perfect 
it until the day of Jesus Christ." — Ps. cxxxviii. 
8; Phil. i. 6. 

How many times has the believer gone 
from the Lord's Table with the sorrowful 
thought, Shall I indeed continue standing? 
Shall my resolutions and promises not be 
frustrated ? Who tells me that I shall 
persevere unto the end ? "I shall now 
perish one day by the hand of Saul " (1 
Sam. xxvii. 1). 

It was just in such a crisis that David 
said, " I will cry unto God Most High, 
unto God that performeth all things for 
me " (Ps. lvii. 2). It is in God alone that 
the Christian has the assurance of his per- 
severance. To see from the beginning to 
the end, yea, to be Himself alike " the Be- 
137 



The Lord's Table 

ginning and the End," is one of the glori- 
ous attributes of the God who dwells in 
eternity. And it is one of the characteris- 
tics of His work, that, while man often be- 
gins without ending, with Him the end is 
as certain as the beginning. " What He 
has begun He will complete.'' 

O my soul, if thou wouldst enjoy the 
comfort of this promise, be much occupied 
with this fact : " He has begun. 17 The 
Christian speaks too often of his conver- 
sion and his faith and his self-surrender. 
Contemplating all this from the side of 
man, he keeps himself too little occupied 
with the thought : " He has begun." My 
soul, understand what this means : He has 
sought me and found me and made me His 
own, and what He has thus done to me 
points back to that which He did for me : 
He gave His own Son, and by His blood 
He bought for Himself as His own pos- 
session. And that again points back to 
eternity. He chose me and loved me be- 
fore the foundation of the world. My 
soul, ponder what this means: " He has 
begun." 

Then shalt thou be able joyfully to ex- 
138 



The Week after the Supper 

claim, " He will perfect : " u the Lord will 
perfect that which concerneth me." Then 
shall thy life become a life of humility and 
thanksgiving and confidence and joy and 
love. Thou seest that there is nothing in 
thyself, and thou learnest to expect all 
from God, and thank Him for all : thou 
learnest to rely upon Him in everything. 
And the end will be to you as certain as 
the beginning, because the end as well as 
the beginning has its root and stability in 
God. The self-same faith that, looking 
back, acknowledges the beginning as 
God's, also looks forward, and in the eter- 
nal and unchangeable God finds the end 
secured. " What He has begun He will 
perfect." 

PRAYER. 

Lord God, Thou art without beginning 
and without end. For Thou art Thyself 
alike the beginning and the end. Thou 
art the Eternal, with whom there is no 
yesterday and no to-morrow. Thou art 
Thyself yesterday, to-day, and forever. 
With Thee there is no changeableness 
nor shadow of turning. Lord, in Thee 
139 



The Lord's Table 

alone Thy believing people find their com- 
fort and their security. Nothing that we 
have done or still desire to do, nothing 
that we are or shall be, can give us rest. 
But, thanks be to Thy name, Thou Thyself, 
the Eternal, with Thine unchangeableness, 
Thou art our rest and our strength. In 
Thee alone and in Thy faithfulness does 
our life become freed from all fear. 

Father, give me to understand this. 
Make me to know Thee as the God who 
has begun a good work in me. Let Thy 
Spirit seal it to me that Thou receivest me 
as the possession which Thou hast bought 
for Thyself, which is precious to Thee, and 
which no one shall pluck out of Thy 
hands. And then teach me, in the midst 
of all the sense of my own weakness and 
the power of sin which I have, always to 
trust and always to exclaim : " He that 
began a good work in me will perfect it." 

Father, once again I thank Thee for the 
Supper that has been observed. Bless- 
ed Perfecter, perfect in me also Thy work 
of grace. Teach me to go forward on my 
way, full of joy, full of confidence and 
courage, full of thanksgiving and love. 
140 



The Week after the Supper 

My God, become Thou everything to me : 
the God who has done everything, the God 
who will do everything, the God to whom 
all is due. And give me thereafter to 
await the glorious end, when I too shall 
be in perfection what I was at the begin- 
ning, and every day hope more and more 
to be, a monument of the grace of God on 
which he that runneth may read : " From 
Him and by Him and to Him are all 
things : to Him be glory for ever and 
ever." Amen. 



141 



APPENDIX 

Throughout the preceding pages the 
author makes such pointed reference to 
the statements of the Directory of Public 
Worship in the Dutch Reformed Church 
that bear on preparation for the Lord's 
Supper, and also to the relevant questions 
of the Heidelberg Catechism, that it has 
been thought of advantage to the reader 
to have these passages before him. 

I. Self-examination 

" True proving of ourselves consists of 
three parts : — 

" 1. In the first place, let everyone in 
his own heart reflect on his sin and con- 
demnation, in order that he may loathe 
himself and humble himself before God : 
seeing that the wrath of God against sin 
is so great that, rather than suffer it to 
remain unpunished, He punished it in His 
dear Son Jesus Christ, in the bitter and 
ignominous death of the Cross. 
142 



The Week after the Supper 

u 2. In the second place, let eveiyone 
examine his heart as to whether he also 
believes this sure promise of God, that 
only on the ground of the suffering and 
death of Jesus Christ all his sins are for- 
given him, and the perfect righteousness 
of Christ is bestowed upon him and im- 
puted to him as his own : yea, as com- 
pletely as if he himself in his own person 
had atoned for all his sins and performed 
all righteousness. 

" 3. In the third place, let everyone ex- 
amine his conscience as to whether he is 
prepared, henceforth and with his ivhole 
life, to manifest true thankfulness toward 
God the Lord, and to w^alk uprightly in 
God's sight. 

" All who are so disposed, God will as- 
suredly receive into His favor, and regard 
as worthy communicants at the table of 
His Son Jesus Christ. On the other 
hand, those that have no such testimony in 
their hearts, eat and drink judgment to 
themselves. " 

II. Christ in the Supper 

" Question T6. What is meant by eating 
143 



The Lord's Table 

the crucified body and drinking the shed 
blood of Christ ? 

" Answer. It is not only to receive with 
a believing heart the whole suffering and 
dying of Christ, and thereby to obtain the 
forgiveness of sins and life eternal, but 
moreover, also, to be so united more and 
more to His sacred body by the Holy 
Ghost, who dwells both in Christ and in 
us, that although He is in Heaven and we 
are upon the earth, we are nevertheless 
flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones, 
and live and are governed forever by One 
Spirit, as the members of one body are by 
one soul. 

" Question 19. Why, then, doth Christ 
call the bread His body and the cup His 
blood, or the New Testament in His blood ; 
and St. Paul, the communion of the body 
and blood of Christ ? 

" Answer. Christ speaks thus not with- 
out great cause, namely, not only that He 
may thereby teach us that like as bread 
and wine sustain this temporal life, so also 
His crucified body and shed blood are the 
true meat and drink of our souls unto 
eternal life j but, much more, that by this 
144 






The Week after the Supper 

visible sign and pledge He may assure us 
that we are as really partakers of His true 
body and blood, through the working of 
the Holy Spirit, as with the bodily mouth 
we receive these holy tokens in remem- 
brance of Him ; and that all His suffering 
and obedience are as surely our own as if 
we ourselves in our own person had suf- 
fered all and done enough." 



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